As You Wish, Your Majesty
by Avalain Nightshade
Summary: Verity Noble has always believed in one thing: order. She believes humanity cannot improve without it. When she discovers that Loki Laufeyson is planning to rule Earth, she grows intrigued about if he can better the world. She is willing to support him, but after some time, she begins to suspect that bringing order is not the reason she does. (ON HIATUS)
1. The Voice in the Mirror

Verity Noble could care less about Erik Selvig's abnormal behavior. In fact, the only reason she even **_slightly_** cared was because the doctor was her father's close friend. But that did not mean that Verity had to care about the doctor herself.

As it was, everything was getting rather suspicious. Within the past two or three months, the doctor had been acting strangely… or at least, stranger than usual. He was uncommonly quiet, often taking solace in being alone in his office. He only came out on Fury's orders, or whenever he had to give a report on the Tesseract's behavior. Otherwise, he was shut up in his little hovel, conducting feverish research about the Tesseract's power and what it could accomplish.

Verity had known Erik Selvig her whole life.

He was not like this.

She frowned to herself as she stormed through one of SHIELD's headquarters. Fury had just commanded her to summon Erik Selvig to council—it was time for another of those monthly meetings about "unlimited power," blah, blah, blah.

Those meetings bored Verity something awful. Fury would always talk about unlimited power, and how it could help humanity, but in truth, she thought that humanity was probably beyond helping at this point.

Humankind was frail, scattered, divided. They needed peace and order, something for them to unite under or with.

That was probably why she had become HYDRA. She believed in a system of unity, although she did not entirely agree with the idea that people needed guns to their head to achieve it.

Although she was a part of HYDRA—not SHIELD, as she had only involved in it for HYDRA's benefit—she felt like she was not entirely HYDRA. She was not as enthusiastic about the organization as some of her coworkers.

Verity scowled to herself as she reached Erik's office. As usual, he was talking to himself. **_That_** hadn't changed.

She raised her fist to knock at the door—

But then she stopped.

There was not one voice… there were **_two._**

"Any developments, Selvig?"

"Nicholas Fury is correct. The Tesseract **_could_** be utilized for unlimited and intense power," said Selvig's voice. "The thing is, the humans do not realize what **_else_** it is capable of."

Verity pressed her ear to the door. What did Selvig mean? And why had he said "humans" as if he wasn't one?

She was about as curious as she could get—that was when she heard the second voice again, one she had never heard before, declare, "Of course they do not. They are petty and unintelligent. It is a wonder they have lasted this long on this earth without someone watching over them... How long until the Tesseract is ready to transport me here? I grow tired of waiting."

The voice was low and smooth and was certainly **_not_** Erik Selvig.

Verity was baffled. Was this person the reason the doctor had been so distant lately? How had he won over Selvig's loyalty?

"I have almost finished connecting the bridges between our worlds. It should be done in about a month. It won't be long now," replied Erik.

The second voice growled. "It better not be. It has been near three months already, and that damned cube has been in the humans' possession for all that time. The longer we wait, the closer they are to taking it out of our range. I **_must_** be here if my plan is to succeed—and I do not completely trust the Chitauri to help me get here, either. It must be done **_my_** way. Now get back to work."

Realizing the conversation was about to end, Verity burst into the office without knocking. She simply **_had_** to get a look at this person corrupting Selvig's usually peaceful and simple beliefs—

But when she entered, it was only Erik.

Deflated, Verity blinked and glanced around. As usual, the office was a mess; rather, a pigsty filled with papers, donut wrappers, and whiteboards filled with complicated formulas and science-y stuff that Verity did not understand.

"Hello there, Miss Noble!" chuckled Dr. Selvig good-naturedly, as if he had been expecting her. He did not notice the way her gaze darted around his office as he questioned, "Is it time for the monthly report?"

Verity nodded, not quite sure what else to say. She glanced around the room one more time, a scowl on her face. Her gaze passed over a mirror; something made her stop.

She narrowed her eyes and gasped—in the reflection was a very tall man wearing Renaissance-like armor, holding a scepter. His green eyes flashed when her blue-eyed gaze landed on him.

But then she blinked, and the man's reflection disappeared.

She whirled around, wondering where the man went. She was certain he had been there… she had heard voices… and now seen someone.

He had been talking about coming **_here._**

"Are you alright, Verity?" questioned the doctor, stepping towards her, wearing a puzzled look.

Verity glared at him and jabbed a finger so close to his face that Erik had to cross his eyes to see it. "I know you're up to something, Erik. You've been acting… odd… these past few months, and I **_know_** I just heard voices. You're going to do something with the Tesseract, and you can mark my words when I say I'm going to find out what, and who the man is that you're working with. Don't object, I saw him!" she exclaimed quickly as Erik opened his mouth. "I'll find out, Erik. You know me. You know I will."

And with that, she whirled around, her long brown hair nearly slapping the doctor's face as she stormed out. Over her shoulder, she added, "Are you coming? Fury sent me to get you, you know."

She heard footsteps behind her and figured that Erik was following her. Together, they started walking through the halls.

Though at first it was silent, Verity, not quite ready to push her curiosity aside, asked lightly, "So! Doctor Selvig. Who **_was_** that man I saw? A long-lost cousin, perhaps?"

Doctor Selvig failed to notice her sarcasm. "More like a figment of your imagination, my dear."

Verity laughed, though it was without humor. "Do not play games with me, Doctor. You and I both know that you've been acting odd recently. I have known you since I could walk. You cannot fool **_me,_** no matter what lies you might shoot my way."

Erik chuckled. "I am not fooling you at all, Verity. When have I ever lied to you?"

"There is a first time for everything, Erik," she laughed softly in return. She did not believe the doctor—Verity trusted no one, if not herself, no matter how long she had known someone. "And I am a thorough believer in the idea that anything can happen."

She was answered with silence, which all but assured Verity that what she had seen and heard was true.

Verity couldn't withhold her smirk. It appeared she was onto something, after all. It only made her more determined to figure out what exactly Erik Selvig was researching—and, more importantly, who he was giving the information to.

Within another few minutes, they were outside the room in which the Tesseract lodged. Both Verity and Erik knew that Fury would be inside… Verity was the first to open the door and dramatically gesture the doctor inside.

Erik stepped past her with a chuckle; Verity smirked again and followed him in.

"There you are, Selvig," greeted Fury, his eye—singular, as he wore an eyepatch over his right eye—on the doctor. "I was wondering if maybe you'd skipped off."

"I'm sure he wouldn't, not so deep into the game," remarked Verity, raising an eyebrow.

Fury chuckled at that. "Perhaps you're right, Agent Noble. Anyway, thank you for bringing Selvig here. As it is, I will spare you from the council meeting. This is just a discussion between Selvig and I."

"Oh no!" mocked Verity, throwing her hands to her cheeks in fake horror. Her blue eyes widened in supposed distress. "I cannot take part in all these scientific discussions I have no knowledge of?"

Fury laughed. "Your sarcasm is as sharp as ever, Agent Noble."

The tone of Fury's voice clearly labeled that Verity was dismissed—she smirked and curtsied dramatically before exiting the room, her tall black heels clicking over the floor as she did.

Verity sighed once she was back in the hallway. She wouldn't have anything to report to HYDRA—not that she gave a damn. She just wanted to go home and watch Criminal Minds and not have to worry about that revolting thing known as **_work_** for a while.

The man in the mirror flew through her mind again… Verity wondered if she might return to Erik Selvig's office to gain a hint about who the man was.

Although she thought it was a good idea, she abstained, if only because the man, according to what he said, was not actually **_with_** the doctor when they'd spoken. Somehow, he must have projected a hologram of himself or something so he might speak with Erik…

Another scowl found Verity's face, but she just shook off the thought.

Perhaps tomorrow she might be able to weasel some information out of Erik. She was, in fact, **_very_** good at being manipulative.

"All thanks to my big brother," she chuckled darkly before setting off for home. If she had work left to do, too bad.

She'd rather be watching Criminal Minds.

* * *

 _"She knows."_

 _Loki scowled to himself as he paced. Although he was somewhat pleased at Selvig's report, there was still a month before he could arrive on Earth. But now that the skeptical female caught sight of his projection, time was much more precious._

 _He glared down at the ground. He didn't **have** time._

 _He would have to gain it somehow._

 _There was only one thing for it—he had to kill the girl before she found anything out about him._

 _"Yes," he sighed to himself. "That will work."_

 _Loki stopped pacing and shook his head. He was starting to sound like that insane—albeit possessed—doctor, talking to himself like that. With a smirk, he exhaled through his nose and tightened his grasp on his scepter._

 _That was when a neat little idea popped into his head._

 _He glanced sideways at the weapon in his hand. The jewel of the scepter that Thanos had given him was filled with power. A manipulative power. He already knew it was capable of changing people's allegiances… Doctor Selvig was living proof of that. Who was to say he had to kill the girl when he could simply make her obedient? That way, he might have another pair of eyes, another scientist he could rely on, another pawn to speed up the process._

 _He smirked. He'd only had a glance at the girl, but she could be a promising ally. Or, if not that, she could at least be promising sport._

* * *

Hello, lovely people! So this is my new story... I came up with the idea for it after watching Thor tonight. I simply **_had_** to write it down, although I'm not sure if I will write more in it. It was sort of rash, but I'm going to continue on with it, at least for a little while longer.

Have a MARVELous day, everyone! Please review!


	2. The Ghost in her Bedroom

The rest of the evening was pleasant, as opposed to the morning and afternoon when Verity had been working.

As soon as she got home, Verity had thrown off her ridiculously uncomfortable suit, peeled off her heels, and proceeded to cook some ramen noodles in her regular spandex and crop top. She felt much better as soon as she ate, seeing as whenever she was hungry, she got **_cranky._**

Afterwards, she watched a good three episodes of Criminal Minds before deciding to switch gears and marathon the first season of Sherlock. She loved all three seasons of course—maybe before she died there'd be a fourth season—but the first one was her favorite.

By the time _The Great Game_ had ended, it was almost midnight. Verity sighed and rose, figuring it was time to feed her cat.

The moment she got up, she heard her pet—Chloe—mew. Despite not caring much for people in general, Verity had a soft spot for her beloved cat. And so she smiled and crooned to the animal as she grabbed Chloe's food bowl and filled it to the brim, like always.

Chloe was a rather fat cat… not that it bothered either Chloe or Verity.

Once Chloe's water bowl was refilled as well, Verity sighed and flopped down onto her bed, yanking off her tank top. Unfortunately, as she was a newly graduated college student and therefore quite broke, her apartment did not have air conditioning, although it was number one on her "To Buy" list.

Luckily, Verity was an easy sleeper, and a deep one. Normally, she fell asleep within minutes, though tonight was different.

For some reason, tonight, she felt uneasy. Verity sensed there was something or someone watching her, keeping an eye on her. It was unnerving, and most likely extremely crazy, but again—Verity trusted no one if not herself.

To reassure herself, she grabbed the pistol in the top drawer of her desk and set it on the nightstand. Just as a precaution, of course, but still…

When Verity finally fell asleep, it was not an easy sleep. She dreamt, which was not something she did often—and it was a strange dream.

She was walking along a glass bridge, overlooking space. Stars were everywhere around her; behind her, Verity felt warm sunlight hitting her back, but she was physically unable to turn around and look at it. She could only look at the stars… as she watched, a comet shot by.

As it did, a voice murmured, "Welcome home."

Verity gasped and shot upward only to be met with a heart attack.

She cried out in shock and quickly grabbed her pistol before turning her lamp on—without bothering to see what exactly it was she saw, Verity aimed her gun at the human silhouette and shot.

A deafening _BANG!_ and the bullet ended up in the wall. While normally Verity would've felt pretty proud of herself—she was like Sherlock, shooting her own wall—she was not comforted knowing that her bullet missed her mark.

For a second, all was silent… But then…

"Well, that was dramatic."

Verity inhaled sharply and scrambled backward against her headboard, covering her body with a pillow as if it were a shield. She glared around the room, wondering exactly who was in here with her.

Didn't she lock the damn door?!

She was pretty sure she locked the damn door.

"Who the hell are you?" she grumbled, not lowering her pistol. It reassured her. "And, more importantly, **_where_** the hell are you?"

"I was under the impression that this is your bedroom."

"Yes, it **_is,_** but **_where_** in my bedroom?" she groaned exasperatedly. "I cannot see you. Get out here so I can shoot you."

"Dear me, is this how you make friends?" asked the voice. Verity's gaze shot to where she thought it was coming from—she was not comforted to realize it was only a few feet away from her. "That would explain a lot about you, actually."

"Har-dee-har-har. You're hilarious. Now show yourself."

"No. This is amusing me."

"Fine. I'll shoot you anyway."

And, true to her word, Verity pulled the trigger a second time. She had aimed for where the voice had come from, but despite that, her bullet just ended up in her wall again. Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before realizing that it probably wasn't wise to reveal her fear to this blasted poltergeist.

There was a silence. But just as Verity was about to think she killed the ghost in her bedroom, it spoke again. "You know, if I were actually **_here,_** that would've killed me. Congratulations."

Verity sighed. "You're being sarcastic, aren't you?"

"You tell me."

She groaned and finally slammed her pistol back down on the nightstand. "This is ridiculous. I must be dreaming again, or someone is playing a prank on me, or I'm drunk off my ass. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going back to bed."

The voice snickered. "Don't say that, or I'll join you."

Verity closed her eyes in rage. She was three-two-one **_done_** with this thing floating around her room, mocking her in her own apartment. She didn't even have a comeback for its innuendo, and she **_always_** had comeback. She was Verity Noble, the High Queen of Sass. **_No one_** out-sassed her.

Until this prick.

"Look, douche canoe," she snarled at the empty air. "You're in **_my_** apartment, okay? **_You_** found **_me._** Obviously, there must be a reason for it. Now, unless you want me to completely tune you out and go back to sleep, you better show yourself this instant."

She glared out around her room—her familiar, small room. There was hardly enough room for four people to lie down on the floor, which made it difficult for parties. Not that she had any friends to party with, but sometimes inviting random strangers over was fun, especially if she was drunk.

And when the man finally showed himself, Verity Noble was almost completely positive she **_was_** drunk.

It was the man she'd seen in the mirror's reflection earlier that day. He was standing a few feet away from her bed, smirking complacently, wearing the same black Renaissance-y armor that he had been earlier that day. His scepter was still in his hands; a blue gem in the middle of it glowed with energy.

He held his arms out in a grandiose gesture. "Here I am."

Verity stared at him for a moment before shaking her head. "Please excuse me while I go splash my face with water to make sure I'm not dreaming."

Without waiting for his response, she tossed the pillow onto the edge of her bed and no less than sprinted into her bathroom. When she got there, she stared into the mirror and back at her terrified face.

She hoped she didn't look this scared to the poltergeist-man. Her blue eyes were wider than dish plates, and she was pale and clammy from her fitful sleep and her rather frightening awakening. She realized, a bit too late, that she was only wearing her black spandex-shorts and a black bra.

Whoops.

Verity sighed and ran a hand through her dark hair.

"Funny, I don't hear running water in there," mocked the poltergeist-man.

"Funny, I don't recall asking for your input," shot back Verity, although she turned the faucet on and splashed her face vigorously before deciding that yep she was awake alright.

Forced to realize this was the truth, she sighed and warily trudged back out. The poltergeist-man's eyes were on her face—oh, how respectful, she thought to herself—as he smirked and inquired, "Still think you're dreaming?"

"No, now I just think I've been right about Erik Selvig," she muttered, finding her tank top and yanking it back on. "Who are you, anyway?"

His smirk grew wider, almost into a leer. "Who are **_you?_** "

Verity crossed her arms. "You're in my territory. Besides, I asked first."

"Fine, fine," he mocked, holding his hands up in surrender. "I am Loki Laufeyson."

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" she quoted, loving her fandom reference.

"You should be," he retorted as a smirk.

Verity blinked, watching his face as the smirk grew into something a little nastier. Suddenly, she got the gist.

"Oh, for God's sake!" she shouted. Her shout disturbed her cat, who had beforehand been sleeping peacefully at the end of her bed. The animal meowed and dove underneath the bed as Verity continued shrieking, "Have you been here **_all evening?!_** "

Loki Laufeyson shrugged. "I insinuated as much, haven't I?"

"Why the **_hell_** are you stalking me?" she retorted, her fingers itching to grab her pistol again. "I didn't even know you existed until this afternoon! By the way, what are you doing to Erik? Why? And why are you here? I thought you said you needed the Tesseract to get to Earth!"

Loki just chuckled. "You certainly heard a lot, didn't you? I guess I underestimated you, something I won't do again."

With these words, he raised his scepter towards her—seeing this, Verity dove over her bed, yanked up her pistol, and aimed it as his forehead. "Try it," she snarled. "Try it and we'll see just how good red looks on my wall."

For a moment, he just stared at her. But after a moment, he began to laugh. "You've got spirit. I'll need that."

He lowered the scepter, causing Verity to grudgingly lower her gun. After another brief silence, she grumbled, "Why **_are_** you here?"

"At first, I was here because I thought I would kill you."

Verity gaped.

"But then I realized that would be a waste of a good ally. You have some promise; I think you'll be good to my cause."

"And what cause is that?" she returned, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Bringing order to this world."

This made Verity freeze. This was what she had always believed in. How could humanity be organized and given its best chance to succeed if they were scattered, constantly arguing about what was right or what was not? How could they move past petty issues and deal with the bigger ones if there was no order?

"You mean you have a system to help the world?" she asked after a long pause.

Loki smirked. "Something like that."  
Verity raised her eyebrows again. But then she glared at him. "Wait a minute—something's not right here. Why do you want to bring order to **_this_** world? Obviously you're not from around here." She gestured to his manner of dress. "What brought you here?"

"I chose this world because this world is the closest, out of all of them, to its own destruction," he answered, a gleam in his eye. Verity wasn't sure what to make of it. "I would like to save it from itself, if I can."

Hearing this, the girl stopped short. She would believe it of the world…

"Alright," she sighed at last. "I suppose I can see where you're coming from. But why do you need Erik if you are here, right now?"

"But I am not," smirked Loki. "This form of me is but a projection. A mere hologram, here for the sole reason of tormenting **_you._** "

"Ain't **_that_** the truth," muttered Verity.

"The only thing that is actually in your world is this scepter," he resumed, raising the golden weapon. Once again, the blue jewel captivated Verity's attention—it was quite bright. "Its power is great enough to travel dimensions at the will of its wielder."

Verity gazed at the scepter and noticed that it was, in fact, more prominent than Loki actually was. She figured that what he was telling her so far was the truth… she was quite surprised by that.

"So… what? You want me to help you? How?" she questioned.

"All in due time. For now, I want to know—will you give me a chance?"

Verity thought for a moment before deciding that however annoyingly sarcastic he might be, Loki was making some sense. And if she **_did_** side with him, then there'd be plenty of time to regain her title as High Queen Sass.

"Fine," she sighed. "Fine, I'll wait and see what happens. As long as you don't hurt Erik. He's a family friend of mine."

"I promise no harm shall come to him," said Loki, his lips forming a twisted smile. "That is, of course, on two conditions. One—that you do not reveal my plans to anyone. I have found that if you try to help people, they get sensitive. And two—I will need your name."

"Oh, right," laughed Verity. "My name. I didn't give it to you. It's Verity Noble."

Loki smirked again. "Noble truth?"

Verity shrugged. "Jury's out. That's my name, although it's a bit backwards. See, the thing is… I don't **_lie_** to people. I just don't tell them the truth, either. My policy is, don't ask, don't tell."

"Why tell people your plans if they don't ask for them?" questioned Loki. "I can understand that."

She nodded—there was another silence.

After a moment, Loki clapped his hands together. "Well, I should get going. Nice to have this little chat, Verity. I'm glad I didn't have to kill you."

"So am I?" asked Verity, more like a question. She wondered if he had really thought about killing her… if the scepter truly was in this world, he would've been able to.

As it was, Loki just chuckled before disappearing.

The moment he was gone, Verity flumped back onto her bed, staring at the ceiling. Chloe crawled out from underneath her bed and sat on Verity's stomach.

"That was weird," muttered Verity, thinking back on their conversation. But then her eyes narrowed as she remembered his sarcasm/sass, and she grumbled, "Little twat waffle," before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

* * *

 _Loki was pleased by how well that went. It had been amusing to follow Verity around her apartment for the evening—it was a good thing he hadn't really been in her world, or he might've just tried something with his_ _ **other**_ _scepter. After all, she had only been wearing those skimpy shorts and a tank top all evening. Not to mention she was all long legs, dark hair, and blue eyes._

 _Still, he was glad that she was giving him a chance. He might not even have to use the scepter on her, if she proved loyal enough._

 _For some reason, Loki liked that idea. He didn't just want slaves—he wanted loyal followers as well. Although the girl was a living embodiment of sass, he figured that she was probably more than that, and that he'd see it the more time he spent with her._

 _He made a face at his own thoughts. He was becoming as wretchedly sentimental as his oh-so-dear brother._

 _Despite that, Loki thought she would be useful in the end. She seemed rather curious about the idea of having order throughout the world—he smirked a little, as he'd purposefully not told her that it would be_ _ **he**_ _who would be ruling the world, thus providing order._

 _She hadn't asked, so he didn't tell her._

 _Don't ask, don't tell._

 _At least he wouldn't have to worry about being discovered now. Verity would be giving him a chance, and according to her, she didn't lie. And Selvig, of course, was unable to do anything against the scepter's power. The two of them together could surely transport him here—and once he was on Earth, his conquest would be easy._

 _Yes; things were going very well._

* * *

Yeess... it's not a "one and done" fic... Proud of myself. :) Hope the chapter was to your liking, guys! Please review and leave your thoughts for me! Have a MARVELous day!


	3. An Odd Assignment

Yay! A new chapter. Always fun. :)

* * *

The next day, Verity was back at work, although she was not very happy about it. After her conversation with Loki, she had hardly been able to get back to sleep, mostly because she was paranoid about if he was still in her apartment.

As the day progressed, almost the entire task force that focused on the Tesseract knew that Verity had had a sleepless night. While normally she was tolerable at best, and surly at worst, today she was downright vicious. Whether it was asking her for her opinion on the Tesseract's abnormal behavior or informing her that the coffee machine was broken, Verity was stomping around as if she were squishing spiders with every step.

Finally, however, Verity's coworkers were spared from her monstrous behavior when she decided to take a nap in the middle of a council meeting.

Once the meeting was over, Nick Fury dismissed everyone—except Verity.

"Agent Noble," called Fury exasperatedly.

Verity yawned and looked drearily up at her boss, clearly uninterested. "What?" she grumped unceremoniously.

"Were you paying any attention at all to the meeting just now?"

"If I said yes, would I be allowed to leave?"

Fury sighed, his eye rolling to the ceiling. "Agent Noble, you have been selected as one of the most promising agents for SHIELD. Are you going to put in the work required to keep this position?"

So badly, Verity wanted to say that she didn't give a single shit about whether she was or was not in SHIELD. Unfortunately, she couldn't, because HYRDA wanted her in SHIELD.

And so she replied, "I believe, sir, that I already put the work in. If you would like the data I've collected here, I'd be glad to give it to you."

Fury held out his hand, and so Verity plopped the manilla envelope she'd been using as a pillow into his hand. Without wasting time, Fury began perusing the data she'd collected and calculated and all the stuff she'd done that, thanks to her degree in astrophysics and biochemistry—she'd double-majored—was easier than easy.

Verity thought back to the previous night as Fury was occupied. She wondered just what Loki had done to make Dr. Selvig act like his personal slave, and how he was planning on bringing order to the world. He hadn't explained a lot of things; although she supposed that was partially her fault. She had failed to ask… probably because she was overwhelmed by having a man with a ginormous glow-stick of murder in her apartment.

"It appears you have surprised me, Agent Noble," declared Fury's voice. Verity was brought out of her thoughts as her gaze snapped to her boss. He was wearing a light smirk on his face. "Continue to do so."

She nodded and questioned, "Am I dismissed, then?"

"You are."

Not wasting any time, Verity retook her envelope and sauntered out of the room, preparing to go back to her office and continue her much needed nap.

On the way back, however, she stopped and glanced at the door to her right. It was the door to Selvig's office… Verity wondered if she should go in. She had questions that needed to be answered, and the worst that could happen was either Loki wasn't there, or he would refuse to answer her questions. There was hardly anything to lose.

So she knocked and entered the office.

Selvig looked up from his paperwork on his desk when he heard her come in. "Ah!" he exclaimed with a smile. "Verity. Come in, come in."

"Did you know that knocking is a custom in this world?" asked Loki's voice.

Verity didn't look to see him. Knowing he was here was all she needed to know. "If I recall correctly, I **_did_** knock," she simpered, protruding her bottom lip slightly in a pout.

There was silence in answer, and Verity smirked. She then turned back to Selvig, who was poring over the papers again. "What are these for?" she asked him.

The doctor smiled and gestured her forward. "These are power readings of the Tesseract," he answered, pointing at a brief to his left. On it was a line graph based on power levels over the past month. "I am trying to determine what the maximum amount of power the Tesseract can exert it. So far, there has been no limit," he chuckled, shaking his head.

Verity nodded. "Impressive, Doctor. But, if I may ask, what for? Has Fury assigned you this?"

Selvig blinked before nodding frantically. "Yes, he has."

"Liar," leered Verity. " ** _He_** told you to do this, didn't he?" She pointed out into the empty air, although the accusation hung like fog in the damp space. "What does he want the information for? What has he told you to do?"

There was another silence; for a moment, Verity was certain that she would get no answers. She huffed and was about to storm out in her knee-high black-heeled boots, but just as she turned her back, Loki's voice declared, "If you do something for me, I will tell you everything."

This made her freeze. As much as she hated to admit it, Verity was rather curious about the whole ordeal. She was sure whatever Loki might want her to do would be simple, anyway… after all, Fury never challenged her.

How could this apparition, then?

Verity felt rather than saw Loki smirk. "I can sense you're interested."

She sighed and flipped her dark hair back, attempting to remain unmoved. "And just **_why_** do you say that?"

"Curiosity. Detecting that is one of my fortes."

"So is stalking," she retorted mildly. With a dramatic sigh, Verity then added, "Very well, then. If you wish for me to do something for you, you'd better make it worth my while."

"I am promising you insight into my plans. You are the only person whom I am offering this to."

Verity raised an eyebrow and pointed at Selvig. "What about him?"

"He's a pawn," retorted the voice calmly. "The power of the scepter you saw last night is great and should not be underestimated, Verity Noble. You'd best remember that."

She laughed. "Am I supposed to be intimidated?"

"You should be."

Verity raised an eyebrow at the low growl his voice had become. As entertaining as it was to sass the hologram in the room, she **_did_** want to know what he was planning…

And so she huffed, "Fine. What do you want me to do? Do **_not,_** by the way, mistake my compliance for obedience," she added before he could speak. "I am **_not_** intimidated, nor am I completely sure I want to help you yet. I'm just curious as shit about what you're doing."

Loki chuckled, though Verity still couldn't locate his form with her eyes. "I want you to go to the Tesseract and flip a certain switch. Then record everything you see and hear before flipping the switch to its original position. I will ask you about what you've observed tonight."

Verity listened intently, determined to perform admirably. If she wanted to get Loki's plans, she'd have to do her job well. Upon hearing, however, that he would be obtaining that information later, she groaned. "You mean you're coming back to my apartment," she pieced together.

"If you'd rather wait until tomorrow, that can be arranged."

"No. No, it's fine. Just… don't stalk me again. Just freaking show up, okay? And don't do any of this freaky 'I-can-hear-your-voice-but-can't-see-your-form' shit. Got it?"

"There goes the fun of having you around."

Verity seethed, not liking the fact that she had no comeback for his comment. At least, the one she had that rhymed with "No Luck, Poor Shelf."

Although she figured she could say that **_after_** she got the in on his plans.

"So what switch is this, dickweed?" she snarled, unable to stop the insult.

Oops.

As it was, Loki just chuckled. "It's a red switch. It is on the dashboard, close to the far right of it. You can move it four different positions—I want you to switch it from the uppermost position to the very bottom. Then switch is back."

Hearing this, Verity sighed. "What if there's more than one switch?"

"There's not."

"Why the hell can't **_you_** do this?"

"I'm not **_here._** Remember?"

"Oh, right. That's why I couldn't shoot you properly. Now I remember. Great. So I had a **_ghost_** stalking me, it wasn't even a real person. Yeah. That's real nice."

"If you don't stop talking, I'll do it again."

"Oh dear God no."

"Then get to it."

"Bossy," sassed Verity. "By the way, you'll want to come to my apartment after midnight. I don't get off work until half past eleven."

"That is a lie. You get off at five."

Verity smirked and raised an eyebrow. "And who is to say I do not have two jobs? Surprise, surprise, Loki. I am, after all, a broke college graduate trying to get a life. So. Midnight." And then she stormed out of the room, her high-heeled boots clacking, making sure to sway her hips a little more than necessary if only to piss him off.

Once she was out of earshot, Verity began to mutter obscene things about this irritating apparition under her breath all the way to the lab. She figured that if she got her task done quickly, she could get back to her office quicker, finish the rest of her work quicker, and get home to Criminal Minds quicker.

The lab was, luckily, deserted when she reached it, despite how it was normally. This meant she could perform this test without anyone screaming at her to stop messing with the goddamn cube, motherfucker—and yes, Fury had actually screamed that at someone at one point.

Verity didn't fancy being next.

She quickly approached the dashboard, peering at it cautiously. There were dozens upon dozens of buttons, and it was almost impossible to locate the little red switch on the right side of the dashboard. Once she found it, however, Verity raised an eyebrow. She was frankly shocked at the realization that what Loki said had been true… thus far, at any rate. She wondered how long **_that_** would last.

Before flipping the switch, Verity pulled out her phone. She opened it to the notes tab before taking a deep breath and flipping the switch.

Immediately, an intense blue glow filled the room. It was overwhelmingly bright, as if a great blue sun had suddenly come to form in the room. Verity could hardly see what else was going on—but somehow she managed to record the great light and the rumbling that occurred throughout the room. As the seconds passed, that rumbling grew fiercer and fiercer—to get an accurate idea of what else was going on, Verity squinted and looked across the room.

Gathered there was an extremely large ball of light… it was swirling around as if trying to form something.

Verity recorded her observations before throwing the switch back off, as her eyes couldn't take the sight for much longer.

She took a moment to gather her thoughts and regain her eyesight. Once that was done, she stared at what she'd written:

 _Startlingly bright blue light. Surrounds the room. The room is shaking. At the opposite side of the room, blinding light swirling as if to form a door or portal. Thought that would please you._

Deciding that this note was satisfactory, Verity sighed and used her phone to check the time. Seeing that it was four in the afternoon and that she only had an hour until she was formally off the clock, she scoffed and exited the headquarters to get ready for her second job.

* * *

 _Loki hoped his faith in this female was not misplaced._

 _He knew that humans were often unreliable, or inept at performing minor tasks. He did not trust this female to notice exactly what he wanted… but still, it would be a good idea to see if she would turn out to be useful or not. This would be her test._

 _Once she stormed out of the room, Loki sighed and ran a hand through his hair. If Verity Noble **was** useful, it would be difficult putting up with her. She was sarcastic at best—intolerable at worst. _

_He knew, however, that with her about, at least he'd never be bored._

 _Loki suddenly froze. He heard a voice behind him; a voice he knew well. It was one of the Chitauri, telling him it was that time of day again._

 _Despite his resolve not to, Loki swallowed. Midnight. Great. Time to endure another torture session._

 _Hopefully the thought of Verity relaying hopeful news would be enough to sustain him for the next hour._


	4. A Personal Threat

I thought it was time to update this little story. I've decided to continue on with it at my own leisure... It's been fun to write, anyway. :)

I hope you enjoy, spectacular people! Feel free to leave comments about what you think. Have a MARVELous day!

* * *

After her shift, Verity stormed back to her apartment. It had been a crappy night of serving pigs that passed as men at the shady strip club downtown, so when John, who lived in the apartment below her, saw her and tried to start a pleasant conversation, Verity just snapped, "Don't talk to me," before brutally pushing past him.

As soon as she was inside her room, she groaned and ripped off her ghastly pink and feathery uniform, as well as the fishnet leggings she was required to wear. She quickly took her hair out of her high ponytail, but decided it was too much work to take her make-up off before the following morning.

Just as she was about to start cooking some ramen noodles—any time was ramen time—she heard a "mew."

Verity blinked and looked down at her cat, who was gazing up at her with reproachful yellow eyes. Seeing this, she chuckled to herself and filled the animal's food and water bowls before returning to her stove.

It took about ten minutes for the ramen to cook. Once she was done, Verity grabbed a bowl and a fork and plopped down at her table before digging in.

As she finished her food, Verity heard a voice say, "Alright, it's after midnight. What did you get from your report?"

"Ah-ah-ah," she exclaimed, glaring around the room. "I can't see you. What did we talk about the creepy 'I-can-hear-you-but-can't-see-you' thing?"

There was a groan, and then, " ** _Fine,_** " and suddenly Loki was visible, although he did not look very happy. Verity gaped at him—he appeared extremely battered and exhausted. There was a thin trail of red seeping from a cut underneath his eye.

Seeing her blue eyes locate him and noting the shock with which she looked at him, he huffed, "You can see me. Now. My data."

Verity rolled her eyes, deciding not to comment on his appearance for the sake of his pride. "Straight to the point, I see. Very well. I left my phone in my room. Hold on."

She rose from the table to go grab her phone, but when she turned around, she found that Loki had followed her. Blinking, she stepped back, trying to resist rolling her eyes again.

"Well?" he asked expectantly.

"Well, here's your note. ' _Startlingly bright blue light. Surrounds the room. The room is shaking. At the opposite side of the room, blinding light swirling as if to form a door or portal. Thought that would please you.'_ The end."

Loki was the one to blink now. "Is that all?"

"What did you want?"

"Was there a clear portal? A doorway for certain? Are you sure it was there?"

"No," she retorted, crossing her arms. "No, I am not certain, because I could not tell. Perhaps you missed the whole 'blinding light' bit, but trust me, it was literally blinding."

"You know what else is blinding? That awful dead bird on your bed."

Verity started and glanced back at her bed and almost choked. It wasn't a dead bird on her bed; it was the godawful uniform she wore for her second job. As it was, she burst out laughing, unable to stop.

Loki frowned. "What is so humorous about deceased poultry?"

She wiped at her eyes and walked over to her bed. "This isn't a dead bird," she elucidated, still choking a little. "This is my uniform. For my other job. I work at a night club down the street."

"A night club?"

"Yes," she answered. Seeing the dubious look on Loki's face, Verity sighed. "Relax, I'm a waitress, not one of the strippers. I'm not **_that_** much of a whore."

With that, Verity veered around Loki to get seconds on her ramen noodles. Then, over her shoulder, she added—if only for the reason that she thought it'd irritate him—"The job pays pretty well, you know. It's not half-bad. Sometimes."

Loki followed her back into the kitchen, his frown still on his face. But for once, he was silent.

Verity tried to treasure that as much as she could. Then, before taking a big forkful of food into her mouth, she said, "Alright, so you got what you wanted, didn't you? Are you going to tell me about your plans now?"

"Not yet."

Verity's eyes narrowed. "We had a deal."

"We did. But I must ask you something first. How much do you believe in order?"

"Order?" she repeated. He nodded. "I believe in it more than I believe in anything else. How can mankind accomplish anything if we are all scattered and divided by these ridiculous barriers we declare as freedoms? Men cannot better society if the only society they want to better is their own. The world is doomed if someone does not take charge."

Loki's eyes widened. "Someone, you say?"

"Someone. I don't give a shit who—a king, a government, anybody, really. As long as **_someone_** gets shit done, I'd follow them."

There was a silence, and Verity wondered if she's surprised Loki. She again reveled in the silence she'd forced him into… until finally, he said, "I'm very glad to hear that, Verity Noble. I suppose now I can tell you my plan. I plan on coming here, to this Earth, to rule it. Your planet is nearing its destruction, and I wish to change that. I have an army of what you would call aliens to help me with this cause. The only thing that stands in my way is not having a portal to your world. That is why I have taken charge of Erik Selvig. He can help create the means of me arriving here… and that is what I would have you help me with, if you would wish to."

Verity stared at Loki intently as he spoke and figured that he, despite his annoying qualities, would be as good as any other to take charge of men and better the world. And so she sighed and replied, "Very well. If you truly mean what you say, then I support you. So long as you promise to make the world a better place."

Loki smirked. "I promise."

Now she relaxed. "Good. Also, what should I call you? Just… Loki? Or something else?"

"Whatever you see fit."

Verity mimicked Loki's smirk. "As you wish, Your Majesty."

He groaned. "I'm going to regret saying that, aren't I."

"You can count on it." she grinned.

"If that is the case, I will need some leverage on you. I will also need it to keep you in line… just in case," he added at the expression on Verity's face. "I do not doubt you, Midgardian woman. And I will also admit that I am curious. Every man cares about something. What do you care about?"

"Making the world a better place."

"You misinterpret me. I meant of something personal, something close to you."

Verity raised an eyebrow. "I do not care about anything, nor do I care about any ** _one._** I do not have friends, I despise my family, and I hate everyone else. The only one whom I care about and trust is myself."

Loki smirked again. "You say so, but that is not the truth. I am the god of mischief and lies. I know when I am lied to. Say what you will, Verity Noble, but I will find out what you care about."

"Can't find something that doesn't exist."

"You continue to lie. Is it that boy who lives a floor below you?"

She couldn't help but laugh, thinking about her hopeful redheaded neighbor. Perhaps she shouldn't have invited him over the past week whenever she was intoxicated off her ass. "Who, John? Please. I only care about him when I'm drunk. He's very good company whenever I'm drunk. Any other time, not so much."

"Selvig, then."

Now she snorted. "Atrocious guess. The only reason I even **_slightly_** care about Selvig is because he is my father's best friend, and I do not hate my father the way I do my siblings."

Loki paced—or floated, more like—around Verity, staring at her intently, a grin on his face. "You are hard to read. You are the most interestingly amusing mortal I've met thus far…"

Verity leered at him and was about to shoot him a smart remark, but she stopped upon feeling her leg being rubbed up against. She looked down to see Chloe walking in between her legs, as if to ask for more water or food.

"Not now, Chloe," she said.

Too late she realized her mistake—she'd crooned at the cat, the way she always did.

Verity's gaze flicked back up to Loki, whose grin was now like a shark's. "The cat," he declared certainly. "That is what you care about. You care about your cat."

She sighed, but held her composition. Despite the fact that she would help him, she would not put it past this sketchy mirage to betray her and take the one thing she cared about away from her. And so she retorted obstinately, "You are delusional. It is but a mangy creature."

"Perhaps, but it is a mangy creature you care about," chuckled Loki, his green eyes flashing with amusement. "I must say, most people care about other people. Some even care about ridiculous things such as their fame or wealth. But I have **_never_** met a human who treasures her pet above all else… I wonder what you might do if I were to one day string this cat up by the ceiling fan and leave her there for you to find?"

That was it.

 ** _Nobody_** threatened the cat.

Verity hissed, seized a butcher knife, and leapt toward the apparition, forgetting that Loki was in fact, not present. "If you lay a single finger on my cat, I will rip your eyes out. The moment you get to this world, I will be waiting with my fingernails extended."

Loki laughed aloud, raising his hands in surrender. "I will not harm your pet," he responded. "I was merely curious of your priorities. I like to know the people I am working with, after all."

"Well, so do I, and I know nothing about you," retorted Verity.

"All in due time," Loki smirked, although a specific flash ran through his eyes; she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "But know this, Verity Noble—I am determined to save this world underneath my rule. I will let no one get in the way of this. So… should you ever have a change of heart and attempt to stop me, you will regret it."

His eyes flickered to Chloe, who was gazing up at Loki and Verity with large yellow eyes.

Verity's own eyes narrowed, and she glared at the mirage. "Fine," she muttered. She didn't know why she'd betray Loki anyway, but as long as she appeared obedient—as much as it pained her—then he'd have no reason to hurt her beloved cat.

"I'm glad we understand one another," said Loki. He glanced around the room before declaring, "Now, I believe I must go. I'll have to rid myself of the cat hair and mile-long trail of feathers and glitter I receive by being here, and I'm technically not even **_here._** I shall see you quite soon, I might say, Verity Noble. That is, assuming things go well."

And before Verity could say anything, he disappeared.

* * *

 _Loki couldn't help but chuckle the moment he broke the connection. He couldn't **believe** that an unbearably sassy woman cared so much about her pet. It was rather humorous, if he thought about it for too long. _

_At any rate, he figured he could keep Verity around. She had turned out to be useful, after all. He would not deny he'd had his doubts. She'd told him of the portal and the beginning of its formation, which was what he'd wanted to know of… and she believed in order. She believed that **he** could do it._

 _It was surprising, how comforting that was. Although she might never say it aloud to another living soul, she was willing to support him._

 _He smiled somewhat and crossed his arms. Hopefully before long, the Earth would be his for the taking, and **he** could be the one to prove himself to **her** this time around._


	5. Awkward Bonding

Sorry for the long wait, guys! Just got my wisdom teeth out yesterday, so it's been rather irritating. But I managed to get another chapter up here! Hope you like it. :) Don't forget to review with your thoughts!

Have a MARVELous day!

* * *

"Bad news, Loki," sighed Verity three days later. "The changes you've had me conduct on the Tesseract's settings have been noticed. A guard will be stationed around it at all times."

Loki's apparition sighed. "Close the door," he commanded, and Verity did so, but not without a sneer.

Once that was done, she plopped into Erik's armchair and asked, "So what do you want me to do? Try and knock the guard out? Or shall I do something a little more **_exciting?_** "

"Neither," replied Loki, frowning. "We wait it out."

Verity was surprised by this. Three days ago, Loki had assigned her to change the settings in which the Tesseract was kept in place. They were subtleties, little things she was certain none of the physicians would never detect. But apparently, there grew to be enough of them that they did, in fact, notice.

Loki had been certain the portal would be open by the end of the week. And now here he was, suddenly patient to wait for the guards to be dismissed.

"What did you put in your coffee today?" mused Verity, raising an eyebrow. "A dash of faith and a sprinkle of patience?"

He chuckled, but shook his head. "I am willing to wait. I cannot risk my plans going astray. Instead, I shall have to delay them."

With a sigh, Verity glanced around Erik's office. The blackboards were still covered in formulas—Erik was at work on one of them as she and Loki spoke—and papers were still strewn everywhere. She wondered how no one had noticed the doctor's abnormal hibernation-like state yet.

"You seem troubled," noted the god.

Verity glared at him. "Hardly. I am merely skeptical about if the plan will work now."

"It will work. It has to."

She laughed. "If you say so, Your Majesty."

Loki sighed then and grumbled, "Will you stop calling me that?"

Verity gazed up at Loki through her lidded blue eyes. "And yet you would have the other denizens of this Earth bow before you. Am I an exception? Have I worked my way into our benevolent dictator's good graces?"

"Enough," growled Loki, and although Verity wished to proceed, she merely snorted and remained silent.

There was an unbearable quietness in the room that was only broken by Erik's scratching of chalk on a blackboard… until at last, Verity announced, "Well, if you want me to get back to the Tesseract, I can volunteer to be one of the guards."

"No. You will be caught, and I cannot risk losing you."

Verity opened her mouth to say something snarky, but Loki beat her to it—"And **_no,_** I do not care what happens to you, Midgardian. I only wish to keep you around while you prove useful. Afterwards I do not care what you do, or where you go."

"And here I thought I might have a friend," pouted Verity, although there was a smirk hidden underneath her wide eyes.

"Right, because you have so many," sneered Loki—her false expression wavered before she glanced away from him, suddenly stung by the truthfulness of his comment.

"I was hoping you'd eventually be one," she chuckled; she surprised herself by doing so. Verity did not tell anyone about **_feelings._** They were petty and undesirable and they often got in the way of clear thinking.

Another silence.

And then—"I am not here to make friends, Verity Noble. You should do well to remember that."

"Oh, believe me, I already knew," she retorted, narrowing her eyes. "You are trying to escape where you are now. You think I haven't put that together? The defeated posture, the occasional wince as you try to move, the pain behind your eyes? You're being tortured, Loki, wherever you are. That being said, why **_would_** you want to make friends when your first concern is to escape your enemies?"

"You know nothing about this," snarled the god. "Do not dare speak to me about this."

" ** _Bullshit_** I won't speak to you about this!" screeched Verity, launching up from the armchair as she glared daggers through his translucent forehead. "You want to avoid facing this, but you can't, not with me around. I can read you like an open book. Something happened to you not long ago that inspired you to go somewhere else. I don't know what, but I know I'm right. But your plan backfired. And now you are trying to escape that plan by taking order of this world. I am still willing to support you if you truly want to better this planet, but goddamn it, if I'm going to support you, then you can do me the common courtesy of explaining what you've done and who the **_fuck_** you are!"

After her rant, there was a deafening silence between her and Loki. The only sound was Erik humming merrily as he sketched out a possible solution to one of the infinite formulas on the board.

Seeing the malice in her eyes, Loki sighed and shook his head. "You are impossible," he muttered, but he waved her to sit back down as he added, "I will not tell you everything. A little, however, could be harmless enough."

"About damn time," mumbled Verity, keeping her arms crossed as she flumped back into the chair. Once she did, she gazed at him expectantly.

Loki sighed again and grumbled something to himself, but eventually he said, "So you've obviously put together the fact that I'm… not quite myself. The Chitauri—the race with which I've taken refuge—claim that it is to better myself. They believe that pain is the only way to rid oneself of weakness. They are helping make my transport to Earth possible; they want to make sure I am in top condition, as they see it, for when I arrive."

"That's sick," declared Verity.

He shrugged. "It's their belief. Doesn't necessarily mean I believe it as well."

"Why don't you just tell them no?"

"Because if I do, they will see it as an insult, and then they will not help transport me here."

"Screw them!" exclaimed Verity. "I'll do it. Christ, it's better than you getting tortured."

Loki smirked. "How quaint. Have I worked my way into my benevolent assistant's good graces?"

"Don't you start with me," grumbled Verity. "I only offered because being tortured must majorly suck."

Loki chuckled. "It does, though you put it rather brashly."

She smirked. "If you plan on keeping me around, you'd better get used to it."

"Maybe I should've gotten someone else…"

"Odds are anyone else will think you're insane and tell you to fuck off," sighed Verity boredly, inspecting her fingernails as if they were the most interesting things on the planet.

"Don't you tell me that already?"

"Well, yes, but… they'll probably do it in a much meaner way," simpered Verity, not really trying to withhold her smirk. "At least I'm somewhat joking when I say it. But you'd better get used to it, Your Majesty. You're stuck with me."

"And I'm convinced the effort to put up with you will kill me," he muttered in retort, although he was smirking as well.

Verity noticed and pointed it out. "See? You're already succumbing to my sass. I told you I'm High Queen Sass. That wasn't for no reason."

Loki groaned again and put his head in his hands, which made Verity outright laugh. She couldn't deny she was amused by how easily she could wind him up—he was rather entertaining to have around. She daresay she could get used to being in the god's company.

After a moment of him trying to regain some sanity, Loki said, "Now then, my benevolent assistant, if I am to tell you more about myself, you shall speak more of yourself to me as well. All I know is that you dote on your cat."

"And don't you forget it," snapped Verity, although it was halfhearted, seeing as his comment was completely true. Then, however, she sighed. "Well, what do you want to know about me, then, Your Highness?"

He smirked at the use of the nickname, although he rolled his eyes as well. "Let's start with where your family is, and why you hate them."

"Ooh, I'll skip the second part," sighed Verity, scratching her head anxiously. "But I'll indulge you on the first. My mother walked out on me when I was seven, so I've no idea where she is. My father died a couple years ago. My step-monster is probably basking in his money, and I've no idea where her son is, thank God."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound like you miss any of them."

She smiled a little sadly. "I miss my dad. The others can go jump in a lake. He died in a car crash… He lived in Florida, you know… crazy people everywhere… couldn't be helped, I suppose."

Verity exhaled a little shakily. He was the last thing she'd cared about before she decided it was easier not to care about anything or anyone—at all. It hurt less that way, and gave her a clearer mind.

"My condolences," murmured Loki; those words brought her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, well," she mumbled, shrugging helplessly. "What about you? You got a family?"

Loki frowned. "Not one that I miss too dearly."

"Oh, come on," laughed Verity. "You must miss **_one_** of them, at least. Any siblings? Cousins? Friends?"

"One sort-of brother," admitted Loki grudgingly. Seeing Verity's raised eyebrow, he explained, "I was adopted."

Verity nodded slowly. "I see," she replied. "Hopefully it wasn't much of a hindrance. Oftentimes there is no difference if someone is adopted or not."

"Not in my case," muttered the god, his voice sour.

She decided not to press him on it. Instead, she just chuckled and waved her hand dismissively. "Look at this. We're bonding."

"Humph," grumbled Loki. "If that's what you want to call it."

"Well, what would **_you_** call this?"

"Allowing you limited insight so you might stop being a pain in the neck."

Verity laughed with this last. "Oh, Loki," she sighed, clucking her tongue. "I'll **_always_** be a pain in your neck."

Loki sighed, which made her laugh again. Once, however, he looked back up at her, she was surprised to see that he was smiling somewhat. She hesitantly returned it—that was when the god cleared his throat and declared, "Well, as I cannot be risking you in regards to the Tesseract… Doctor Selvig?"

"Yes?" asked Erik pleasantly, completely oblivious to the conversation Loki and Verity had just had.

"Do me a favor and take over the current guard's duty of watching the Tesseract. Then undo whatever extra precautions Nicholas Fury has placed around it."

The doctor smiled blankly. "I shall do that."

And with that, he was out of the room.

Once he was gone, Verity glanced sideways at Loki. Questioningly, she began, "So… how does that scepter of yours work? How has it taken over Erik so completely?"

Loki glanced at the scepter in his hand and raised an eyebrow. "It may be too complicated for your mortal mind to handle."

"Then dumb it down for me."

He sighed and shook his head, but nonetheless obliged. "Very well. The center of this scepter contains a specific jewel that holds a foreign power—"

Suddenly, he stopped and glanced over to whatever was in his world. Verity instantly noticed that his eyes were wide, and he looked **_worried._**

"I—" he started, but a harsh voice cut him off.

"You," snarled the voice. It was deep and foreboding, and sounding like two butcher knives scraping against each other. "You cannot speak to any human about our gift to you."

There was a stomping noise, and then the owner of the voice was in view, blocking Loki from Verity's sight. She gaped at the creature, as it was certainly no human, as it pointed at her. "Do not speak of this again," he warned.

While normally, Verity would've sassed the creature about the glow stick, she merely remained silent. For some reason, she was concerned that the creature might hurt Loki.

It was bad enough for him already… he was already being tortured.

She didn't want to be responsible for his pain.

Seeing that she had no response, the creature smirked and hissed to Loki, "This conversation is over."

Before Verity could speak, the image of Loki and the monster disappeared.

She blinked and glanced around. Were they really **_gone?_**

"Loki?" she tried hesitantly. There was silence. "Loki?"

More silence.

Verity exhaled and sat, defeated, on the ground. Why'd Loki's boss have to come and crash the party? How anticlimactic was **_that?_**

It wasn't like his scepter was all that important… was it?

She rather hoped not. She would hate to be responsible for him being tortured, as she had asked about the scepter in the first place. She didn't want him to be hurt.

Wait—why did she care?

She didn't know; but she did.

Another minute passed before she put her hand over her eyes and whispered, "Oh, Loki, I'm so sorry."

* * *

 _"_ _Loki?"_

 _Loki glanced around, certain that this was Verity's voice. But it sounded strange; it wasn't detached or sarcastic like usual. It wasn't even blank. She sounded… concerned?_

 _Probably not, Loki thought. But it sounded like it._

 _"_ _Loki?"_

 _Knowing that the Other let Verity's voice follow them back to their hideout simply to spite him, Loki narrowed his eyes._

 _The Other just laughed. "Couldn't resist," he smirked, shrugging. He sauntered towards Loki, knowing that there was nothing Loki could do to refuse. The Other was, after all, helping him get to Earth. So he could rule it. So Verity could help him rule it._

 _"_ _Why did you forbid me from telling her about the scepter?" asked Loki, careful to clear his voice of emotion._

 _"_ _It is not a matter to be spoken of to humans," snarled the Other, its ferocious eyes glaring._

 _Loki only raised an eyebrow of his own. While the Other was indeed the one torturing him, he knew that the Other was not the_ _ **true**_ _master here._

 _There was something—someone—else. Someone greater who was commanding them both._

 _"_ _You might have just said so," smirked Loki, daring to be sarcastic._

 _And he paid for it. A sharp_ CRACK— _and Loki stumbled backward, his cheek stinging. He hated it when the Other did that, although perhaps he had been asking for it this time._

 _"_ _You might have just kept quiet," retorted the Other as a snarl. He stepped backward, clearly intending to take his leave. "Keep out of communication with the human until tomorrow. If I discover you attempting to contact her, you will be sorry."_

 _Then he stormed out, leaving Loki glaring hatefully at his back._

 _Why did the Other wish to keep him out of contact with Verity? As irritating as she could be, she was the only company he had these days._

 _Perhaps this was some sort of punishment, then._

 _No company for you, Loki—that was what the Other was decreeing._

 _Suddenly, Loki froze. He heard Verity's voice again._

 _And this time, there was no denying the worry in it._

 _"_ _Oh, Loki, I'm so sorry."_


	6. The Final Plans for Arrival

Here we are, a new chapter! Thanks for reading, guys! I've gotten farther than I expected with this, and plan on continuing it for a while! I've got a hesitant outline that includes through the first Avengers... Not sure yet about Dark World, though. We'll see! :)

Thanks again for reading. You guys are awesome! Have a MARVELous day!

* * *

The next time Verity saw Loki, he was pale and covered in a sheen of sweat.

Although she hadn't seen him for forty-eight hours—and was therefore rather pissed off with his lack of contact—she suddenly realized that she'd been concerned about why the long absence. Seeing him now, with a large purple bruise across his cheek and dark circles under his eyes, seeing him wince as he moved, made her reconsider telling him off like she'd originally planned on doing.

Instead, she gaped and remarked, "You look terrible."

"Thanks," snapped Loki, narrowing his eyes.

"Sorry," she replied, clearing her throat. Her blue eyes perused Loki's form once or twice before she inquired softly, "What did they do to you?"

Loki didn't seem to notice that she was somewhat concerned. "You don't need to know. I will not tell you."

Verity huffed and crossed her arms, irritated. If Loki wanted to be like that, then fine. She'd return the favor.

For a moment, there was silence. But then, Verity scoffed, "So… what? What'd you stop by for? Need something? Speak and it shall be done, Your—"

"Enough of that," interrupted Loki, though he sounded more exasperated than angry. "I came to tell you that we managed to rectify whatever blunders the mortals might've caused in our plan. The Chitauri can send me to your earth in two days."

Verity was surprised by this news, though she tried not to show it. Keeping her voice as emotionless as possible, she replied, "Okay. Whataya want me to do about it?"

Loki blinked. "Nothing," he answered, frowning. "I just figured I should inform you."

"Okay. Well, thanks for the heads up. Now I'll know not to shoot you when you pop on in."

With this retort, Loki's frown deepened. He knew something was up.

"What is it?" he asked at last, obviously refraining from rolling his eyes. "You seem angry."

"Oh, not angry," reassured Verity, raising an eyebrow and shifting her stance. "Just… well, yeah, angry. I'm just pissed that the Chitauri are torturing you and I can't do anything about it. It's not good form, as you're going to be our supreme ruler and all," she added with a smirk.

Loki opened his mouth to retort, but then he closed it and shook his head before glancing around Verity's office.

It was a small room; not very impressive, but better than a cubicle. Unlike Erik, her workspace was neat and tidy, except for the half-eaten salad on her desk. There were no pictures of anything or anyone, either, proving that she wasn't the sentimental type.

At last, Loki spoke. "That will not be a problem when I arrive."

Verity nodded. "They aren't coming with you, are they?"

"No. They shall remain where I am. For now."

"For now?" repeated Verity, crossing her arms tighter across her chest.

"Yes," answered Loki, not looking at her. "For now."

There was another silence as Verity processed this new information. When would the Chitauri come? And what would they do once they arrived? Wasn't it Loki who would be ruling the earth? Not the Chitauri?

That's what Loki had said, anyway…

Then again, he was the god of mischief and lies…

But he **_said_** it would be him…

Oh dear God, did she want to **_trust_** him?

Verity scoffed aloud at her own thoughts, thus drawing Loki's attention. But the god did not ask what she had been thinking about, which mildly surprised her.

There was another brief silence as the two merely coexisted, silent and each lost in their own thoughts. It was Loki who broke the silence.

"Will you be present when I arrive?"

"Of course," replied Verity. "I'd like to see it for myself."

He chuckled softly. "Naturally you would."

Verity raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Loki's smirk grew at her response. "I mean it is clear you would not miss my arrival. You are the type of person that likes supervising everything, to be sure that nothing goes amiss. You also seem the skeptical, curious type—you want to know if I will really come, and to see it with your own eyes. I can read you, Verity Noble, just as you think you can read me. If this means anything, I'll be sure to give you a show when I come."

"Hah," muttered Verity sourly, flicking her dark hair behind her shoulder. "I don't give a damn about any light show. I just want to see if you can walk the walk as well as you shoot your mouth off."

"Better," promised Loki, his smirk growing complacent.

Verity couldn't help but laugh. "I better be impressed, Laufeyson. This **_is_** your debut performance, after all. Gotta make a lasting first impression."

"I plan on it," chuckled Loki, his gaze lowering to the floor. If Verity didn't know better, she'd say the god was actually **_smiling_** —like, a **_real_** smile.

"Dear God," she mumbled, realizing this. Loki's gaze shot back to her face, which was his fatal mistake, as he had not yet wiped the real smile off his face. And so Verity whispered in astonishment, "You're **_smiling._** "

"Am not," protested Loki, his normal scowl returning.

But it was too late. Verity saw and pointed at his figment and laughed manically. "You **_do_** have a soul!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

Loki looked like he wanted to argue, but as being called soulless was not exactly what he wanted, he decided to merely let her rant. Once she was done, however, he sighed and grumbled, "Are you quite finished? Because I've got a few other things to talk to you about."

Clearing her throat and trying to rid herself of whatever smart comments her brain would conjure, Verity nodded. "Ready when you are, Oh Great Ruler."

He sighed, but said, "Very well. When I arrive, I will need an escape route. Undoubtedly these mortals will wish to detain me."

Verity gasped in excitement. "Ooh! Can I drive the getaway car?"

"The what?"

"The getaway car. You know, for a quick getaway. I've only crashed twice, I promise I'm a good driver most of the time! You can fend the others off with that giant stick of yours while I drive."

Loki looked less than excited with this, but he sighed, "I suppose," nonetheless.

Verity grinned and rubbed her hands together. "Excellent," she crooned. "Now I can really stick it to all these tightwads here at SHIELD… ugh, you've no idea how long I've been longing to get out… and I can get out of HYDRA too, while I'm at it… wasn't my favorite place anyway."

Now the god looked confused. "HYDRA? What is that?"

"It's another organization, like this one, except it's bent on world chaos. They plan on keeping a leash on the human population through threat and fear. I mean, you plan on doing the same thing, but you're promising to **_better_** the damn place, so I like you better."

There was no mistaking the complacent leer on Loki's face as he inquired, "Ah, you like me better, do you?"

Verity's eyes narrowed. "When you're not being an asshole, yeah."

He chuckled again and rolled his eyes. "You're not the sweetest person in the world either, Verity."

"That's the first time you've just called me Verity," she noticed. She didn't really mean to say that out loud—but there was no taking it back now.

"So it is," he replied, though he showed no outward emotion. Ah, well. C'est la vie. She wasn't really expecting him to say anything else anyway, even if it would've been nice to know what exactly he was thinking.

Longing to break this next silence that occurred, Verity asked, "So after I bust you out, where do we go?"

Loki thought for a moment before answering. "That is something I was hoping you could tell me."

Verity grinned. "Well, I've got an idea, although I'm not sure you'll like it much. While you recuperate and figure out what to do, we could lay low at my place. HYDRA has given me a fake address so SHIELD can't keep tabs on me when I'm doing more exciting things than paperwork."

She saw the god frown and quickly added, "I can promise you no one will bother us where I live."

After a moment of his thinking, Loki groaned. " ** _Fine._** Fine, we can lay low there. But it won't be for long, Midgardian."

"Calling me an inferior name? How rude. And after I just offered to drive your getaway car."

"I don't **_need_** you to drive it. I am indulging you."

She smirked and rolled her eyes. "Right. I'll believe it when I see it. I mean, you're here brainstorming with me after all. Isn't that why you've come?"

"I came because I know I'll be subjected to your ranting if I did not," snapped Loki. "Do not think that I cannot replace you."

Verity heard the irritation in his voice, but saw something different in his eyes. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but it sure wasn't a promise that she could be replaced. And so she decided to say, "I'm irreplaceable, darling. I'll be the best you've ever had."

Loki blinked and looked away. "I hope you mean best assistant."

"That too."

He choked somewhat, and Verity laughed out loud and clapped her hands. Grinning, she purred, "You're so easy to wind up. It's amusing."

Instead of answering, Loki grumbled a few things under his breath.

Just as Verity was about to open her mouth again—she wasn't even sure what she would've said; probably something else to piss him off—Loki interrupted her. "Well, if I am merely going to be subject to your verbal abuse if I remain here, I might as well return and continue finalizing details with the Chitauri."

"Be honest, you like my verbal abuse," she simpered. "It **_must_** be better than physical abuse."

"Much better," confirmed Loki, offering her a glimpse of a real smile underneath his smirk. "I will see you when I arrive here… for real."

"Wait! I'm supposed to wait here until then?" demanded Verity, raising an eyebrow.

Loki smirked evilly. "That you are," he confirmed, making her scowl deepen. "Try not to do anything rash before I get here. I'd hate to have to clean up your messes."

And with that, he vanished, leaving Verity gaping at empty air.

* * *

 _He snickered the moment he left. He wished he could've seen the look on Verity Noble's face when he just disappeared like that—although he could picture her look of anger, irritation, and confusion relatively well already._

 _Loki sighed, wondering why he cared. He shouldn't. Petty mortal woman._

 _Rolling his eyes, he sauntered into the fortress, knowing that this midnight would be the last that he'd have to suffer underneath the wretched Chitauri. He had a bigger plan… a master plan._

 _One that didn't involve these scum._

 _But of course, he could not say as much aloud while in the heart of their stronghold, while they held the key of his arrival to Earth and Verity in their hand._

 _"_ _Wait," he murmured to himself. He didn't want to see Verity Noble. She was just a pawn. He_ _ **shouldn't**_ _want to see her, anyway. She was just driving the getaway car and letting him lay low for a while. Then she'd be useless. He didn't care about her._

 _Something told him that wasn't exactly the case, however._

 _He liked that she willingly followed him. He even liked that she had a personality—albeit it was an irritating one at times. Even so, he didn't necessarily want to cast her away._

 _"_ _Laufeyson!" roared a voice._

 _Loki immediately rolled his eyes. It was the Other screeching at him, as usual._

 _"_ _Yes?" he asked, smirking._

 _The Other saw this and froze, a menacing gleam in his eye. "You've been in contact with that wretch again, haven't you?"_

 _"_ _I had to tell her the final details of the plan," he defended himself, shrugging in what he hoped was a hopeless gesture. "Abandoning her is not on my to-do list."_

 _"_ _Humph," growled the Other, his beady charcoal eyes narrowing. "I figured as much. She better be worth your time, Laufeyson, for all the trouble she can cause you."_

 _"_ _I daresay she is," replied Loki without thinking. He tried to mask his face from any emotion as he spoke to disguise his comment—but too late. It was clear the Other knew exactly what he was thinking._

 _"_ _Is that so?" the beast smirked. Loki wished he could impale the creature with the very scepter he was gifted. "Perhaps she might be useful to_ _ **us,**_ _then, Laufeyson. Take her life as incentive for your success… Succeed and remove Earth as a potential threat to our civilization, and she will live. If you fail, we_ _ **will**_ _kill her when we arrive. We shall seek her out… just for you."_

 _Knowing that it did not matter anymore, Loki allowed himself to snarl at the Other, "Do you doubt me? When I succeed, I will strike you down for this."_

 _The Other just laughed. "Have I struck a nerve?" he mused. "Perhaps you are not as indifferent to the wretch as you ought to be, Laufeyson."_

 _Loki was so angry by this point that he clenched his fists and teeth and growled, "She is no wretch. She is Verity Noble, and may very well end up outranking you by the time this is all over."_

 _With that, he budged past the Other, wondering exactly what he meant by his last comment. It had sort of escaped without his meaning to—and that unnerved Loki._ _ **Everything**_ _was planned out with him. There were no unexpected surprises._

 _At least, there weren't until Verity Noble strut into his accursed life._

 _With a huff, he made his way to his room, which, in all honesty, was not much different than a prison. He glared out the window, thinking about how he certainly had to succeed because there was no denying it now—the Other_ _ **had**_ _struck a nerve, as much as it pained Loki to admit._

 _With a start, Loki finally realized what he'd meant by saying that Verity might outrank the Other in the end. It was a silly thought: laughable at best, ludicrous at worst._

 _In the end, perhaps Verity might be the Queen._

 _Loki slapped his forehead. "Petty Midgardian," he muttered. He was Loki Laufeyson, and was_ _ **not**_ _sentimental._

 _Yeah. He'd just keep telling himself that._


	7. The Arrival of Loki Laufeyson

Sorry this update is so late, guys! I've been working a lot lately and getting ready to leave for college... Because college is right around the corner, my updates might become less often. It's sad, but I hope you'll stick with me! :) Thanks to everyone for following and reviewing! Have a MARVELous evening!

* * *

"Damn," Verity exclaimed mildly, stepping forward into the room.

Fury had just called her to help subdue the cube—according to him, its power levels were escalating alarmingly quickly.

Verity, however, knew better. It was finally happening. After three weeks of talking and planning with Loki, he was finally arriving.

The reason Verity's exclamation was made was because the cube was brightly glowing, and Erik Selvig was pushing many buttons, acting as if he was trying to stop the conundrum. Verity, however, knew that it was quite the opposite.

Just then, someone landed down from the rafters beside her. A male voice said, "That's about what I had in mind."

Verity smirked. "Evening, Barton."

"Noble."

And that was the extent of the conversation. Both Clint Barton and Verity were more the keep-to-themselves type of people; therefore, they respected each other and nothing more.

"Well?" asked Fury irritably, snapping Verity's attention back to him. Seeing her raised eyebrow in mild confusion, he elaborated, "Can you do anything, Agent Noble?"

Verity laughed lightly. She still couldn't believe that Fury thought **_she,_** of all people, would be able to fix this little problem. "Doctor Selvig is the best scientist within these walls, Director. If he cannot subdue the cube, you can be sure that **_I_** won't be able to. I can certainly try to **_help…_** "

Before Fury could say anything, she strut over to Selvig and looked him in the eye. "Anything I can do?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

The doctor nodded, though it was clearly not his smile. Verity had known him for so long—she knew what his smile really looked like. This was the power of the scepter smiling **_through_** him, and while that was a little unnerving, it wasn't enough to deter Verity from wanting to see Loki.

"Actually, no," answered Erik, redirecting his attention to the dashboard in front of him. Hundreds of little blinkers were rapidly flashing. Both she and Erik were eyeing a rather large blue button that seemed to be blinking brighter and faster than the others…

"Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?"

Verity's gaze snapped to Fury, who was apparently talking to Agent Barton. The Hawk glanced at the Tesseract before shaking his head. "No one's come or gone. It's oven is clean. No contacts, no I.M.'s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end."

Hearing this, Verity smirked. Apparently Loki really **_had_** managed to cover her tracks… she'd have to thank him for that later…

"At this end?" repeated Fury, his one good eye widening.

She couldn't help the laugh building in her throat at this. "Indeed, sir. Don't you know some doors open both ways? Very insightful, Hawk."

Agent Barton made a face that was halfway between a laugh and a grimace. "Don't call me that, Noble."

"Oh, but it's fun!" she exclaimed.

At that moment, a deafening blast filled the air, showering the room in pale blue light. Verity and Agent Barton stumbled away from the Tesseract, shielding their eyes to prevent themselves from being blinded. Without looking, Verity somehow knew that Erik had just pressed the big blue button… and apparently, it had activated the portal.

The commotion lasted only a few seconds, but it was a few seconds of chaos and shaking and uncertainty. Needless to say, everyone in the room was relieved when it finally died down…

Verity was the first to recuperate from the blast. She blinked and rubbed her eyes ferociously before staring ahead of her and gaping.

It was Loki.

He was dressed in the same Renaissance-y armor as always. The bruise that had been across his face had faded, but he looked winded from his journey through the portal, and he stumbled slightly when he tried to shift his weight. In his hands was the scepter that never left his side; he tightened his grip on it, and then his gaze fell upon her.

Verity couldn't help but smile a little. He'd really done it. He was really **_here._** "Holy…" she started to say, but Loki just smirked and put a finger to his lips. Immediately, Verity was quiet. Somehow, she knew what he was saying— _Don't let them know you're on my side yet._

It was Fury who recovered next. Verity heard his voice command, "Sir, please put down the spear!"

Loki glanced at the scepter in his hands before raising it at Verity—she inhaled sharply and felt herself floating off to the side, away from Fury and Agent Barton. Their eyes widened as she yelped and was brought to Loki's side.

Then she was brought back to the ground, only a few feet away from him.

For a moment, Verity had no idea what to say. **_No one_** knew what to say.

At last, however, after giving Loki a once-over, she gaped and exclaimed, "You're **_extremely_** tall!"

Loki chuckled. " ** _That_** is what you are thinking right now?"

She would've responded, except Barton was charging toward them. Verity gasped and whipped out her gun, but Loki had the situation under control already. The tip of his scepter was against Barton's chest, where his heart was.

"You have heart," mused Loki—a blue glow exited the scepter and was pushed into Barton's chest. His eyes became pure black for a split second before they returned to normal… only now, they had an electric blue tint to them.

Verity stared at Agent Barton. He was no longer trying to hurt Loki. Instead, he stood obediently in front of them.

That was when Loki exclaimed, "Please don't. I still need that."

Fury froze where he stood—in his hand was the briefcase with the Tesseract inside. His gaze traveled to Verity, who was glancing at him questioningly.

"Agent Noble?" asked Fury cautiously, as if wondering why she wasn't trying to shoot Loki.

"Director Fury," she said just as calmly. A twisted grin came over her face as she added, "Although perhaps I shouldn't call you Director anymore. I've someone else to help achieve what I believe in."

Anger and disbelief filled Fury's face. "You mean you've been **_helping_** him?!" he roared.

Verity laughed. "Now you're catching on."

Fury shook his head in what Verity could only interpret as disgust—seizing his opportunity, Loki stepped forward. "You are outnumbered," he said, outstretching his hand expectantly. "Give me the Tesseract."

"This doesn't have to get any messier," protested Fury.

"Of course it does," replied Loki. "I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

"We have no quarrel with your people."

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," returned Loki swiftly. Verity couldn't withhold the snort; Loki looked rather gratified by her interjection and shot her an approving smirk. Then, however, he resumed; "I come with glad tidings, of a world made free."

Fury's eyes narrowed. His grip on the briefcase tightened, but Verity was looking for an opening, a way she might be able to steal the Tesseract and give it to Loki…

"Free from what?" asked Fury.

"Freedom," answered Loki. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart… you will know peace." With his last words, Loki gestured to Clint Barton, who was standing easily to Loki's side, completely under his control.

That was when the room started to shake, and Verity gasped as the floor rumbled. "Loki, we should get out of here," she murmured. "This place will collapse with the sheer amount of energy."

"Of course," said Loki smoothly, sparing a glance at Verity. She wouldn't deny she was shocked that he had jumped upon her suggestion so easily—"But first," he declared, and he seized Verity's gun and shot Fury in the shoulder with it.

Fury yelled in outrage and dropped the briefcase. Verity stole it from his reach and turned back to Loki. "Hurry!" she exclaimed.

Loki followed her quickly, Barton and Selvig straight on their heels. As he caught up to her, Verity carefully placed the briefcase in Loki's hands.

"Here you are, Your Majesty," she teased. Then, however, she commanded, "Now give me back my gun!"

Loki easily handed it over, smirking as he did. Verity noticed and threatened, "If you ever touch my gun without my permission again…"

"What? You'll shoot me?"

"Worse," replied Verity. "I'll punish you… and you may not like it, Your—"

"Stop that," he commanded, but he was not firm with it in the slightest.

As they passed into the hallways, Verity laughed. "Don't deny it. The name is starting to grow on you."

Loki grumbled something under his breath, something that sounded like, " _I can't believe I missed you._ "

Verity raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

"Nothing that concerns you," he snapped mildly. He shot an exasperated glare her way, but of course that only made her laugh.

"You're still easy to wind up," she stated, determined to have the last laugh.

Luckily for her, Loki was silent for the rest of the way to the cars… the only time Verity was uncomfortable was when they approached Agent Maria Hill, one of the agents most loyal to Director Fury.

When she saw the quartet in front of her, Agent Hill's eyes narrowed. Pointing to Loki, she asked, "Who is that?"

Verity smirked at her in the most casual way possible. "A new agent," she answered. "Fury's letting him out so we can train him up right."

Agent Hill looked skeptical, but otherwise didn't say anything.

Knowing that they only had a few precious moments before the entire headquarters would collapse, Verity got into the driver's seat and rubbed her hands together in anticipation. "Oh, I've been looking forward to this all week..."

"It's only been two days," remarked Loki.

"I don't care. It's been torture, waiting like this."

Suddenly, however, there was a gunshot, and a hole appeared in the rear window. Verity gasped. "Shit! She just shot my getaway car!"

"Better go quickly, then," suggested Loki calmly.

"Right," she muttered, "I didn't need you to tell me that, you know."

"I figured I might as well."

"Have I told you yet that you're just as annoying in person as you are in figment?" asked Verity, annoyed as she started up the car and stomped on the accelerator. The car roared forward as she added, "Because you are."

"Oh, please," sneered Loki, completely ignoring the bumpy jolts and swift turns Verity was making to escape Agent Hill, who was quickly pursuing them in another car. "You missed me."

Verity laughed derisively. "Maybe in **_your_** mind!" she exclaimed, madly swerving to avoid collapsing rock.

At the motion, Loki winced. "You are a **_terrible_** driver. Why did I condone this?"

"Because you like me," smirked Verity, treasuring the look of irritation on Loki's face as she said it.

"Maybe in **_your_** mind," he grumbled, glaring out the window.

Just then, there was another loud gunshot, and Verity cursed. **_This_** one had been extremely close to her headrest—"Can you or Barton do something about her?!" she demanded.

"Whatever you desire," smirked Loki. He then turned around in the passenger seat and aimed his scepter out the hole in the back windshield. With impeccable aim, he launched a spear of blue energy out of his scepter and straight into the hood of Agent Hill's car.

Hill's car sputtered and spun out, narrowly avoiding being crushed by collapsing rock. Verity, Loki, Selvig, and Barton, meanwhile, somehow escaped from the base without being crushed by rubble.

As soon as she knew it was safe, Verity exhaled. "Well," she started, blowing some of her dark hair out of her face, "that was fun. Nice shot."

"You weren't too terrible yourself," replied Loki.

Verity offered him a rare smile—he noticed. "You're smiling," he declared.

"Am not," retorted Verity, although she had trouble keeping it off her face now.

"Yes you are."

"Alright. So what?" challenged Verity, raising an eyebrow. "You can't bother me about it, because I'm taking you to my place now. What are we going to do about **_them?_** " she added, pointing at Barton and Erik over her shoulder.

Loki thought for a moment before responding. "I managed to ensnare the minds of a few other men. There is another base far off… they should go ahead of us by a couple days."

"Okay," said Verity, rather liking the idea of it just being her and Loki.

There was silence for a moment before Loki spoke. "Thank you… for helping me escape."

Verity smiled again, a bubble of pleasure sprouting in her chest. "Sure thing, Loki."

"You're still a terrible driver, though."

At that, Verity rolled her eyes and smacked his arm, which made him laugh, before she continued on.

* * *

 _The night had been eventful; Loki was pleased with how it turned out. He had the Tesseract, the doctor, the skilled archer, and—perhaps most importantly—he had Verity._

 _That woman. He hated what she did to him. He had worried that she wouldn't be present when he arrived… but she proved him wrong. He'd worried that she wouldn't escape the headquarters of those pesky mortals… she'd proven him wrong_ _ **again.**_ _He'd worried that she would change her mind about helping him._

 _But she didn't._

 _And that was enough to put him in an extremely good mood, although he was less than eager to show it._

 _He glanced at Verity Noble out of the corner of his eye. Despite being mortal, she was beautiful. He remembered how at first, he'd thought of her as a mere play-thing… look what she was now._

 _She was smiling somewhat as she drove. She wasn't_ _ **actually**_ _a terrible driver… he knew that he wouldn't have done any better if he were the one driving. But as she drove, she had somehow removed the windows of the vehicle, and her dark hair was flying about her face. It took all of Loki's self-control to not push it away from her face. He liked looking at her face, even if she were shooting him a death glare._

 _It was a twenty minute drive to where she lived. When they arrived, Verity parked the car in the back alley._

 _Loki glanced back at Selvig and the archer, both of whom were awaiting his command. "You two go to the others," he commanded. "You know where they are."_

 _The two stalked off—both he and Verity watched them go._

 _"_ _The others?" questioned Verity Noble._

 _He nodded. "There were a few others I was able to convert and send to a hideout. Before we begin, we have a few ingredients to collect. There is a base the Chitauri helped me set up in the place you call Germany."_

 _"_ _Germany?" asked Verity Noble, her eyes narrowed. Loki liked it when she did that—it meant she was invested in what he was saying, interested in what was going on. "What is in Germany?"_

 _"_ _Something we need," he answered vaguely._

 _Verity Noble laughed—by Odin, thought Loki, he liked her laugh. Then she said, "You will need to tell me eventually, Loki."_

 _"_ _I know," he answered. "But perhaps I would not like to risk my plans falling into other ears."_

 _Verity smirked and glanced at the building. "Then let's go inside, Your Majesty. I'll fix you up something to eat. You look awful."_

 _Loki sighed and rolled his eyes, although he did not contradict. She was probably right, after all. The wormhole experience had been less than pleasant._

 _Hearing the silence, she laughed again and started to lead the way—Loki could not keep the small smile off his face as they went._


	8. Trust Issues

Alright! This chapter is a bit longer than the rest, so hopefully that'll make up for long absences in updating in the future. I'll do my best to get at least one more up before college starts! Promise! :)

Thanks so much for reading, guys! Have a MARVELous day!

* * *

"So," said Verity as she and Loki sat around her small kitchen table. She had just fixed up a home-cooked dinner of brisket, mashed potatoes, and salad, and she and Loki were almost finished eating. "How are Barton and Selvig going to get to Germany?"

Loki chuckled and laid back, at ease. "Just because I have them under my control does not mean they are incompetent. They shall fly on that infernal contraption you mortals use to get everywhere."

Verity snickered. "It's called a **_plane,_** Loki."

"I care not for what it is called, as long as it does what I need it to do."

"Naturally you wouldn't," sighed Verity, shaking her head and trying to refrain from grinning. She was finding it much more difficult to be her usual sour self while in the god's company, something that both confused and intrigued her. Ignoring that for now, she turned back to the present conversation. "How long will we be here before we go after them?"

He pondered for a moment. "I'm thinking a couple days. Undoubtedly those mortals will think I will retreat quickly, which makes it the perfect cover to remain here until it is safe to leave."

She nodded. "Makes sense to me."

There was a silence; Verity glanced at the clock and inhaled sharply. It was almost eleven—she was going to be late.

With a curse, she bolted into her room, grabbed her godawful uniform, and locked herself in the bathroom. She heard Loki ask something outside, but she was so distracted with trying to put her clothes on that she didn't quite hear what he said.

When Verity emerged, she was wearing the horrible sparkly pink crop-top and black shorts and heels to match. Luckily, it was Tuesday, so she didn't have to wear the **_feathery_** outfit.

"Sorry, Loki, I've got to run!" she exclaimed, trying to yank her hair up.

"What?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing, watching confusedly as Verity placed numerous powders and such on her face. He glanced over her and her costume change once or twice before asking, "Where are you going?"

"My other job," she answered. "I'm going to be late. Jimmy won't be pleased."

Instead of being appeased like she'd hoped he'd be, Loki frowned. "Don't go."

Verity blinked and glanced at him. "What? Why?"

"I do not know if you are actually going somewhere to turn me in," replied Loki, the troubled look still on his face. "For all I know, you will betray me."

At this, Verity sighed theatrically and placed her hands on her hips. And here she was, daring to think Loki might want her to stay because… No. She couldn't afford to think like that. And so she announced, "I just drove your getaway car, almost got shot **_twice,_** and took you to my house! And you don't trust me?"

There was a brief pause before Loki stood up and glared down at Verity. "No, Midgardian, I do not," he finally answered.

Verity stepped back, somewhat offended. Not necessarily **_hurt,_** but definitely offended. With an angry expression, she snapped, "Fine, then, don't trust me. It's not like I'm your only assistant not under the influence of your glow-stick or anything. But I'm **_not_** skipping out on work. I have bills to pay. Come with me if you want. But you'll hate it."

Loki glared at her. "Stay here."

"No," retorted Verity, pushing past him to get in her room. She'd left her purse in there—once she grabbed it, she forcefully pushed him aside and moved towards the door. "You can either stay here or come with me, but I'm going to my goddamn job," she declared. "What's it going to be?"

There was a moment of tension in which the two glared at each other… but finally, Loki seemed to cave. " ** _Fine,_** " he groaned. "I'll come with you."

Verity didn't say anything, but waved him forward. He took the cue and followed her to the car, where she quickly pulled out of the parking lot and raced for downtown.

Five minutes or so passed before either of them spoke. It was Loki who broke the silence. "I apologize," he said stiffly.

"For what?" she asked just as coldly.

"For not trusting you. You've proven yourself a number of times. It is wrong to think you would betray me like this."

Verity glanced at him for a split second. He was not looking at her—his gazed was hard-set out the window. She thought for a moment before deciding to reply, "Thanks. I won't be betraying you. Just so you know."

"How can you be certain?"

"Because…" she started, but as quickly as she started, she stopped. She had just been about to say _because you're different, and I like you._

But she couldn't say **_that._** That was certainly going to bother him, and perhaps make him doubt her even more. It wasn't like he cared about **_her_** or anything, anyway. She was just an assistant.

Loki seemed to take her silence as doubt; but he didn't say anything that would start another argument.

Within the next couple minutes, Verity parked in a shady parking lot. She sighed at the familiar, horrid sight—glowing lights from inside, loud music, hollering, and dozens of men entering and exiting the club. A few of the women who'd just gotten off their shifts were pouring out of the club, all of them wearing the same uniform as Verity.

Both she and Loki clambered out of the car. The god seemed to be having a hard time absorbing the information around him. "What is this place?" he asked.

Verity's smirk was twisted. "A strip club," she answered. "Do you know what that is?"

"I believe the title is self-explanatory."

"Excellent. So let's go inside."

"I thought you said you were a waitress."

Verity blinked, surprised that he remembered what she'd said. "I did," she replied after a moment. "I'm a waitress… at a strip club. I get good tips," she added lamely, as if this was supposed to explain why she didn't have a second job at any other establishment. "I'm appreciated here."

"You could be appreciated elsewhere."

This comment made Verity look at Loki full-on. She was shocked to see he was looking back at her, his gaze not scornful, but… **_pitiful?_** Somehow, that was almost worse.

Once they reached the door, Verity inhaled and said, "I have to warn you, this place might not be entirely to your liking."

"Well, your outfit has given me an idea of what is to come, so at least I shall be prepared," replied Loki.

Verity couldn't restrain a smirk. "Oh, you haven't seen nothin' yet," she promised. With that, she opened the door—the lights poured into their faces, the smell of smoke and beer filled their senses, and the shouts and catcalls of the men and the notes of the music entered their ears like a truck just hit them. "Welcome to my **_other_** job. Now come on. I'm already late."

With that, she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.

The moment she stepped inside, a familiar voice shouted, "Verity!"

Verity sighed. Of course she couldn't have escaped Jimmy's notice. Drearily, she turned towards him. "Sorry I'm late, Jimmy."

Jimmy sighed as well, trying not to roll his eyes. "My name is **_Jason,_** Verity. Not Jimmy."

"Well, you're Jimmy to me," retorted Verity. "Now if you'll please excuse me, I have drinks to serve."

"Damn right you do!" shouted her boss—she rolled her eyes, which made Loki chuckle. She shot him a grateful smile before walking to the bar area.

Loki followed her for a moment before musing, "You do not seem the type who would take orders from a weasel like that… nor do you seem the type to be in this building in the first place."

Verity laughed bitterly, as if her circumstances were different, Loki would've been right. Instead, she said, "You insult me, Loki! I've worked here for five years. I know these people better than my own family! And I sure as hell like them a lot better, too."

Unfortunately, at that exact moment, a greasy old man whom Verity had seen a lot recently catcalled at her.

"Ugh," she groaned, scrunching her nose in disgust. "Even **_him,_** " she said, gesturing to the man with her chin.

Loki glared at the man before asking her, "How do you put up with it?"

"I've gotten used to it. Took a while, granted, but now I'm Jimmy's little belle, as he calls me sometimes when I'm not late. So at least he protects me."

"Does he do that well?" asked Loki.

As a matter of fact, he **_did…_** if only because he liked to have his claim on her sometimes, when he felt like it. As it was, Verity wasn't sure why Loki seemed to care… but she was rather glad he did. As it was, she decided to mock, "Do I detect a hint of **_concern_** from you?"

Loki scoffed. "Don't delude yourself. I cannot have my assistant being distracted tonight."

With a snort, Verity muttered, "If anyone's going to be distracted tonight, it'll be **_you._** "

"We'll see about that," retorted Loki, crossing his arms. His eyes narrowed as he saw a man brush purposefully close to Verity—she saw the god slap the man's hand away from grabbing at her ass.

"Remind me **_why_** you tolerate this?" requested Loki.

"Well, you can't say they don't like me."

" ** _They_** don't like you," blurted out Loki. " **_I_** do. And I like you for who you are."

Verity froze and faced him as he blinked and glared at his feet. She completely ignored the other men that were grabbing at her, whistling things about her body to her, and walked toward Loki. She didn't know what to think—but she felt good about herself for once.

That alone was enough to make her face the fact that she liked Loki, too. As a murmur, she said, "Then you'd be the first. But thank you. It… means… a lot."

He offered her a half-smile, but said nothing.

There was a brief silence before Verity sighed, "You should sit down. My shift goes until three in the morning… you can't protect me this entire time. The men won't stop their habits just because you're here, Loki."

She said this last because of the look on his face whenever she suggested he sit down. But hearing what she said, and knowing that he couldn't do anything about it, Loki exhaled and sat in a chair, shooting Verity a look that clearly screamed, _Be careful._

"I will," she promised aloud; with that, she whisked off to the bar to start serving drinks.

Over the course of the next three hours, Verity was subject to the usual whispers and catcalls and grabs. While normally she would've completely ignored it all, tonight she was bothered by it—because Loki was here, and she didn't want to be degraded like this in front of him.

Normally, she held herself so proudly.

It was only now that she realized how much she lowered herself by letting herself be touched like this.

The exact moment that the clock reached 3AM, Verity threw down the silver platter she'd been handing out drinks upon and raced over to the table where Loki was sitting. He was resting on his hand, obviously worn out from the experience and probably from the crazy wormhole portal he'd undergone earlier.

"Hey," she said, oddly gentle. Loki blinked and gazed at her. "My shift is over," she informed, offering a half-smile. "We can go now."

Loki blinked and rose slowly, nodding. "Back to the apartment?"

"Back to the apartment," she confirmed.

He nodded and trailed her out to the car. They both got in, and within no time, they were driving back to Verity's apartment.

The ride was quiet for the most part… Verity's mind was swimming with what Loki had said earlier, about him liking her for who she was. She was dying to ask if he'd meant it… but he seemed tired, and she didn't want to bother him.

As it was, Loki's voice startled her so much she almost ran into a lamppost. "What are you thinking about?"

"Shit!" gasped Verity as she struggled to regain control of the wheel. Glaring at Loki's amused face, she asked, "What am I thinking about?"

He nodded in confirmation.

"I'm thinking that as soon as I get home, I'm getting a drink."

That made him chuckle—Verity smiled somewhat hearing it. Then, softly, she added, "I'm also wondering if maybe we **_are_** friends… after all."

There was a silence next to her; but this time, Verity didn't dare look at his face. She wanted him to say something, not have her pry it from him.

After what seemed like an eternity, she heard him say, "Yes. Perhaps we are friends."

She smiled—at that moment, she pulled back into the parking lot behind her apartment building. It was still super dark outside and she probably parked terribly, but at the moment, Verity didn't care. All she wanted to do was get inside, get a glass of wine, and drink with Loki.

"Come on," she ushered, locking the car and gesturing him toward the building. He followed without complaint.

Once in her apartment, Verity immediately stormed to the fridge and brought out a good bottle of pink moscato, her favorite wine. Yellowtail was second only to that—she grabbed two glasses and was not surprised to turn around and see Chloe sniffing at the bottle. Her yellow eyes gleamed as if to ask if some were for her.

Verity laughed. "No, kitty," she scolded, grabbing the bottle out of the cat's face. "You won't like it."

The cat mewed reproachfully, but left the kitchen.

Loki, who had been watching, laughed softly at the exchange.

Suddenly, Verity remembered what Loki had threatened her with, once upon a time. "You aren't still planning on stringing my cat up by the ceiling fan, are you?"

Loki laughed outright at this. "You remember that?"

"Of course I do," she retorted, raising an eyebrow and holding out a glass to him. "She's my cat. My kitty. She's all I've got… other than you."

Both Verity and Loki seemed surprised to hear what she had just added to her sentence. He simply stared at her for a moment as she blinked and tried to figure out if she'd really just blurted out her thoughts like that.

"No," answered Loki at last. "No, I won't do anything of the sort. Not to you."

Verity couldn't help feeling slightly relieved… all the same, she smirked and muttered, "Listen to us, being all soft. Where's our normal bantering?"

"I've been repressing it. Trust me, I've thought a few things tonight that may not be used in everyday conversation."

"Such as?" requested Verity, but Loki just shook his head. "Oh, come on!" she exclaimed, seeing this. "You can't just leave it like that and not tell me! That's not fair."

"You know what's not fair?" he returned, stepping forward and making Verity want to take a small step back. "Seeing you in this revealing outfit and not doing anything to you. **_That_** is not fair."

"No one's stopping you," spluttered Verity, though she tried to play it cool by adding a smirk to her face.

Loki shook his head and mirrored her leer. "I don't take advantage of women when they're drunk."

"Then you're shit outta luck, because I only do fun activities **_when_** I'm drunk."

"And are you?"

Verity laughed and downed the rest of her glass. "You wish I was. But no, not even close. I have an amazingly high alcohol tolerance. I won't be drunk before daybreak… but maybe you can persuade me to try a few new drinks tomorrow instead."

With that, she smirked and put the mocasto away and tossed the glass in the sink. "Well," she declared, "I'm going to bed. It's been a long night, and I'd rather not be a bitch in the morning. There's a couch you can use, if you like. Or my bed is a queen size. Not 'Supreme Ruler' size, so sorry about that, but maybe it'll be alright for His Royal—"

"Oh, will you let that go," grumbled Loki, but he was smirking as he heard Verity laugh.

After she regained control of herself, Verity blinked and added, "The cat usually likes the couch, so… It's up to you. Which way would you rather die?"

"Please," scoffed Loki. "You wouldn't kill me."

"No," admitted Verity, looking over her shoulder at him. "I wouldn't."

And she stepped inside her room, leaving Loki to choose what to do.

* * *

 _He couldn't believe she just put him in this position._

 _The way Loki saw it, he had two choices: either confirm to both himself and Verity that he had feelings for her, or rebuff her and choose to keep to himself for a while longer._

 _One part of him screamed one thing. His brain said another._

 _He watched her go inside her room—she stepped behind the partially closed door and tossed the pink midriff shirt off of her body. Loki swallowed seeing it lie on the floor. She was doing this to torment him; of that, he was quite sure._

 _She threw herself under the covers, her dark hair splayed across the pillow. Loki couldn't help but smirk. This was almost what exactly what she had looked like the very first time he'd visited her._

 _"_ _Well?" she asked._

 _Loki blinked and looked at her. She was amused, it was easy to tell that much. Her blue eyes were sparkling with hilarity, and her lips were dark as they grinned at him from the bed._

 _Knowing that there really wasn't any other choice, Loki sighed. "Fine," he grumbled, although really, he wasn't angry at all. "I'm coming."_

 _He heard her laugh softly—then her voice declared, "Wait, no armor in the bed. You'll rip up the mattress. And the scepter. That should probably stay on the table too."_

 _"_ _I don't sleep with it," he protested._

 _"_ _Whatever you say."_

 _He rolled his eyes, but took off the armor she requested. He only wore his dark shirt and pants now, and without the armor on, he felt oddly vulnerable—it was much like what Verity was doing to him. She was getting underneath his skin, deeper and quicker than he cared to admit._

 _Afterward, he sat on the bed awkwardly, letting Verity look at him. Soon, however, he became unnerved by her gaze and snapped, "What?"_

 _"_ _Easy," she crooned. "I was just thinking that you look normal now."_

 _"_ _Normal?"_

 _"_ _It was a compliment," she reassured, rolling over to face away from him. Loki could no longer see the expression on her face, which bothered him. He wanted to know what she was thinking._

 _He was silent after this, wondering what she meant by normal. Like a mortal? Hopefully that was not it—he was here to_ _ **rule**_ _the mortals, not look like one._

 _For a little while longer, he sat next to her, thinking. Verity's breathing quickly deepened, proving that she was asleep. When Loki noticed this, he sighed and lay down atop the blankets, somehow unable to sleep._

 _He glanced at Verity again. She was still remarkably striking._

 _Almost as if she heard him think this, she rolled closer to him, her arm overlapping his. He stared at her, wondering if this had been done on purpose… but clearly, it was not._

 _With a sigh, Loki closed his eyes. It was alarming, how quickly she was growing on him…_


	9. Breaking the Last Barrier

Here we are, another chapter! My college classes begin today, so my updates might become less frequent. :( It sucks, but I'll do my best to keep up! I hope you enjoy, guys, and thanks so much for reading! Have a MARVELous day!

* * *

The next morning, Verity awoke and was no less than mortified when she did.

She was **_completely_** snuggled next to Loki, who appeared to be asleep. Thank God for small favors—as it was, she carefully detached herself from underneath his arm, grabbed her sweatpants and plain t-shirt, and raced to the bathroom to change.

When she glanced at herself in the mirror, her eyes widened. "You didn't wear a shirt?" she hissed to herself. "Great job. That was **_so_** smart!"

She quickly changed before escaping to the kitchen to start up breakfast… or, more accurately, lunch, as it was almost four in the afternoon.

Within the next ten minutes, Loki walked in, groggy still. He blinked once or twice before asking bemusedly, "What are you doing?"

"Making food," she answered honestly. "People like you and me need that to live, didn't you know?"

Just then, Chloe jumped up on the counter and started sniffing the ham that was to be in the eggs Verity was making.

Laughing softly, Verity set aside a small piece of ham for her beloved cat. The cat was delighted, and quickly scarfed down the treat before looking at Verity again with her big yellow eyes.

"Stop that," Verity scolded halfheartedly. "This ham is not for you. It's for Loki and I."

The cat didn't seem to care.

With a disgruntled sigh, Verity merely rolled her eyes and announced, "Food will be ready in five minutes."

Loki nodded, but was silent.

Once the eggs were finished, Verity plated them up and grabbed some forks. She set aside the little pieces of ham she hadn't used for Chloe, and then gave Loki his plate. With a smirk, she also plopped bottle of wine on the table and said, "This wine might not be the best, but it'll do before you're king of the world."

That made him chuckle. "I am sure it will be fine. Thank you."

Verity grinned, pleased to hear his gratitude despite herself. "My, how polite. You're very welcome."

His eyes narrowed. "Don't make me take it back, Noble."

She laughed at that, unable to help it. With her usual smirk on her face, she stabbed her eggs and started to eat, seeing as she actually was rather hungry. Seeing this, Loki quickly followed her lead.

For a while, it was silent as the two contentedly ate and drank—a few glasses of wine went down with ease thanks to Loki's and Verity's high alcohol tolerance. For a time, it was silent; but finally, Loki decided to ask, "Will you tell me something?"

Verity grinned lopsidedly. "What do you want to know?"

"Will you tell me why you hate your family?"

At this, Verity stopped short, her fork halfway to her mouth. She saw Loki's genuine curiosity, however, and sighed, knowing that she wouldn't be able to avoid this conversation forever. And so, with a giant gulp of wine, she answered, "Two words: stepbrother issues. My dad got married to the step-monster when I was sixteen, and her son… you know the type. Big bear of a man. Three years older than me. Not very patient, and he used his huge ego to make up for some… other things."

Loki raised an eyebrow at this last, but waved her on to continue.

She sighed again before resuming. "As you can imagine, after my dad died, I moved out pretty quick. I got my job… the one you saw last night. I've had it longer than I've been at SHIELD or even HYDRA. Longer than I've been to college. It pays pretty well… Did you see the guy in the gray suit jacket? No? He's been a regular as long as I've been there. I suspect ten percent of my college education was paid by that man." With this, Verity laughed and shook her head helplessly. "Thank God for small favors, I suppose."

There was a silence; it took a minute for Loki to realize that Verity was done talking. Once he did, he questioned, "Why didn't you ever find a better place?"

"I tried," replied Verity helplessly. "But with less than a high school diploma, there wasn't anything that would pay more than what I already had. I forsook my dignity for a chance to live my life. That does **_not_** mean, however, that I stooped to the lowest level that I could. Like I said last night, I'm not **_that_** much of a whore. I don't sleep around or anything… except when I'm drunk."

"And are you drunk?"

At this comment, Verity laughed and threw her head back. "What, do you want me to be?"

There was no response—only a smirk. He continued to wear that smirk as he casually sipped his wine.

"Just so you know," remarked Verity calmly, "that wine is expensive. I gave you the good stuff."

"Am I expected to thank you, then?"

"Not expected, no. Just an FYI. I plan on spoiling his Royal Majesty while I still can, before you have everything your heart desires and all that sappy shit."

Loki laughed aloud with that, although he said something softly that Verity couldn't hear. She didn't inquire what it was, however; instead, she decided to ask, "So what about you? What drove you away from your family?"

The god sighed heavily and muttered, "The dread hour arrives," which effectively made Verity snicker. Seeing this, Loki smirked halfheartedly and continued. "Let's just say my supposed **_father_** did not tell me the truth about myself, and deserted me when most I needed him. My brother was no help, either, when I needed to prove myself… to prove that I could truly be the son of the All-father."

Verity's eyebrows furrowed. She heard the betrayal and hurt in Loki's voice and felt sorry for him, something she never thought she'd feel for anyone. But finally, she figured she said, "You didn't need to prove yourself to him. You are enough as you are, Loki, and if your father did not see that, he was a fool."

"How quaint. You almost make me feel special."

"You are to me," replied Verity ferociously, giving him a look that said there would be no arguing with her.

Loki looked surprised—his eyes contained something else Verity couldn't identify—but he apparently chose to let it pass.

For a while afterward, they simply ate, the three of them, if Chloe lapping up the pieces of ham on the third chair counted.

At last, they were finished, and Verity used this opportunity to remark, "Hand me your dish. I'll finish up in here before we start planning how to get to Germany."

"I already have a plan," responded Loki, looking mightily pleased with himself. "Barton shall return for us tomorrow midmorning in one of those plane-things. We have a predetermined spot for him to pick us up."

Verity gasped and almost dropped the plates in her hands. "Are you **_insane?_** " she exhaled, her voice shrill with what she grudgingly realized was concern. "A plane will be **_detected,_** Loki! We're not that far off from the research facility! You can bet they'll detect a goddamn plane that lands only twenty minutes off!"

Loki's eyebrow raised—he looked at her with mock condescending. "You forget that I am a god of **_magic._** I can conceal the plane from that SHIELD's radar. Do not worry."

"Humph," harrumphed Verity as she viciously scrubbed the plates and silverware. Although she didn't doubt Loki could conceal a plane, she knew about SHIELD's technology and how advanced it was. She was less than eager to see him be captured if he failed. "You better be right."

"I am," he replied, and he sounded so confident that it was hard to doubt him. All the same, Verity still worried. She didn't want to lose him.

Despite that, she was silent. A moment or two passed as Verity kept scouring the dishware. Her mind was on what could go wrong if Loki's maneuver didn't pay off—she knew she shouldn't be concerned, but she **_was,_** and that made her angry.

Suddenly, almost right behind her, Loki's voice murmured, "I think those dishes are clean enough."

Verity gasped again and accidentally dropped the plate—but Loki somehow managed to grab it before it could hit the ground. With a smirk, he placed it on the counter, watching her the entire time.

"What the hell?" she exhaled, placing a hand to her forehead. She was incredibly self-conscious of how close he was standing to her. If she wanted, she could kiss him—or punch him. "What was that for?"

He smirked again. "You looked irritated."

"Well, I am **_now,_** " she muttered, glaring at the plates gleaming on the countertop. She quickly grabbed a towel and started drying them off. "Why did you do that?"

"Because I figured it would be amusing. But going to a question I was going to ask—do I detect a hint of **_concern_** from you?"

Verity resisted the urge to shiver. His voice was low, and **_very_** close. "No," she snapped in return. "I don't care about what happens to you, you idiot."

But her voice cracked with this last, much to her exasperation.

Just as she heard it, so did Loki.

"Liar," he replied. Verity felt the lightest touch on her shoulder, but she didn't give him the satisfaction of turning around and letting him see her face. "You'd at least be bothered by it, if not concerned."

"Oh, sure," she retorted, trying her best to sound as passive as possible, if not scornful. But it was hard to be impassive as his hands descended to her sides, making her feel electric. She clenched her teeth and legs together so he wouldn't notice how goddamn much she wanted to kiss him. "I'd get rid of a god who's gotten me on SHIELD's personal radar. Because that'd be **_such_** a problem."

He snickered—Verity could feel his breath brushing her hair. "Admit it," he said, placing a hand on her side. Verity blinked and glared at him, but seeing the amused sincerity in his eyes, she couldn't withhold the expression for long. "You'd miss me."

Verity was forced to really think about her response. If she said she wouldn't miss him, she'd be pushing him away. If she **_did,_** she'd be admitting that she cared about him, which could be dangerous.

But despite everything that annoyed her about Loki, both in the past and the present, she didn't want to push him away.

"Oh, I know," she confessed at last, daring to look him in the eye. She felt his hands tighten on her sides and heard the small inhale of shock as she added, "I would miss you."

Loki simply stared at her. After a moment, however, Verity raised an eyebrow and asked, "So? Are you going to kiss me, or what?"

"Only if you answer me something." He leaned forward and asked so quietly that she almost didn't hear it, "Would you be mine, Verity Noble?"

Verity sighed and smiled, oddly relieved… but all she could answer was, "It's about damn time," before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

For a moment, Loki simply seemed surprised—but then he began to kiss her **_back,_** which made Verity grin. She entangled her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer to her; his hands were pressed against her back, pushing her up against his chest so there was no room between them. His lips trailed down her chin to the side of her neck and started lightly sucking her skin, making her sigh and close her eyes. When he bit her neck, she moaned softly, which made him grin—she could feel his smile against her skin.

"Lowering your guard, my dear?" he teased, his hand skimming her back. Verity opened her eyes to glare halfheartedly at him, but if anything, it only seemed to encourage him.

"You don't want it completely lowered, **_my dear,_** " she murmured, raising an eyebrow. "I already told you… I'll be the best you've ever had."

"You must be confident about this," mumbled Loki, his lips trailing to her collarbone.

"Oh, I am," she promised, grabbing his dark shirt and pulling his face slightly closer to hers as she smirked, "And now I have no reason to hold back anymore."

Without waiting for his reply, Verity tugged him back to her and kissed him again, wrapping her legs around his waist. She heard him groan as she bit his lip; his lips were cold, but his hands were gentle as they held her. In fact, Verity hardly even noticed as he carried her into her bedroom and held her up against the wall, as her shirt slid over her head and her sweatpants off her legs. She hardly noticed as his hands slid underneath her bra and held and felt her breasts as he kissed her. Her legs were still wrapped around his waist, and with each minute, she felt his desire for her grow.

It was only when Verity leaned over Loki on her bed that she finally managed to shrug his shirt and pants off—with a smirk, she lay her head on his shoulder and murmured, "You should be proud of yourself. I'm not drunk at all."

"Not even tipsy?" he bantered.

"Nope. Not even that. Do you know what that means?"

"What does it mean?"

"It means I **_really_** fucking like you."

"Well," remarked Loki, kissing her shoulder. "If it means anything, I treasure you highly as well." His hands moved across Verity's body, making her involuntarily arch backward and moan into his neck. His bare skin against hers made her feel as alive as three shots of whiskey did—and she was relieved to be able to feel it.

* * *

 _Verity Noble was going to be the death of him._

 _Taking her was like a dream—she moved perfectly, fit perfectly, and sounded perfect. And now she was_ _ **his,**_ _which, in all honesty, had shocked him something fierce. She was normally so collected; unbearably unreadable._

 _Seeing her now, flushed and vulnerable, was sending him over the edge. It was such an astonishing difference that Loki wasn't quite sure if this was the same woman he'd become so damn centered around… but as she sighed his name into his ear, whispered that she cared about him, begged him not to let her go, he realized it was just another side of her, albeit one she didn't show often. And he loved it just as much as the rest of her; she really made a mark on him._

 _And he wanted to make one on_ _ **her.**_

 _Verity gasped loudly as he moved deeper inside her; it was hard not to smirk. Her fingernails were scraping against his back as if letting him go would cause her to spiral into a void—her cheeks were flushed a deep pink, and they only turned darker as he bit her lip, her neck, and finally her breast._

 _"_ _Goddamn it," she groaned, wriggling in pleasure. Before Loki could say anything snarky in reply, she had pushed him off of her and flipped them so that she was the one leaning over him._

 _Glaring at him through her lidded eyes—she was by far more attractive than any woman in Asgard when she looked at him like that—she muttered, "Now you've asked for it. You aren't playing fair. You're a fucking_ _ **god.**_ _"_

 _"_ _Who said anything about fair?" he managed to grin up at her._

 _She only chuckled and kissed his chin, her hands delicate as snowflakes as they caressed his arms and chest, leaving electric imprints wherever she touched him. He groaned and pulled her down against him, but it wasn't enough to rid himself of the numbness her touch just brought._

 _Suddenly, she shook as if under a seizure—her fingernails raked into Loki's chest and she thrust herself atop him, making a strangled noise come out of his mouth. Damn Midgardian. But he couldn't stop himself from biting her neck again._

 _At this gesture, however, Verity withdrew from him—but not completely. Just enough to be teasing._

 _He narrowed his eyes, trying not to display how badly he wanted her to sink back into him. She was the one who spoke first. "Will you tell me something?"_

 _"_ _Whatever you desire to hear." Anything to have her again._

 _"_ _Why me?"_

 _"_ _What?"_

 _"_ _Why me?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow._

 _Loki was surprised to see genuine curiosity in her face—and_ _ **only**_ _curiosity. There was no trace of her normal sardonic nature, or even embarrassment from the question._

 _It took him a moment to answer, but once he did, he knew he meant it. "Because you gave me a chance when no one else might have. That alone was enough for me to look past the fact that you were a human and to see that you were beautiful and helpful and, despite your barrier of sarcasm, truly a trusting person. And I fell in love with all of that… even the barrier."_

 _Verity stared at him with her dark blue eyes gleaming. She blinked once or twice before gasping—a tear fell out of her eye and landed on Loki's shoulder, but he didn't care for it. He placed a hand on the side of her face and kissed her forehead, murmuring, "Even this. Although it would be good if you could stop that."_

 _Finally, she laughed and blinked rapidly. When she looked at him again, her vulnerability was hidden again behind a layer of toughness… somehow, however, Loki could still see through the façade._

 _"_ _I think it'd be good, too," she replied, nuzzling his neck and sucking his skin again. Before Loki could even respond, she was again pressed up against him, her legs intertwined with his, making him lose his train of thought._

 _"_ _Damn it, Verity," he grumbled instead. He couldn't even_ _ **think**_ _with this woman around._

 _She just laughed._


End file.
